Location 33° 44S, 163° 07W
Monday 12:00, 07.23.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at 33° 44S, 163° 07W at noon on July 23rd. We are booming along at 10 knots in a nice 20-25 knot SSW’erly. The waves have made themselves up into proper swells and are getting interesting. The swells are nice and regular, four a minute, and are 7-9 meters, somewhere between “Wow” and “Oh, shit!” The day has cleared with only occasional little rain showers marching by, leaving more rainbows than fresh-water washdowns. We did 227 NM in the last 24 hours, or 804 in the last four days. We are still riding the shoulder of the storm, keeping between 32 and 33 South, racing for our “left turn for the islands,” which is perhaps a day and a half away.

One of the Schooner Maggie B’s truly lovely characteristics is that even as we are hurtling along like this in big water and doing hull speed, we were able to have a pleasant lunch in the sun on deck (steaks with roasted potatoes, beets and garlic; salad with avocado, apple and macadamia nuts), only occasionally having to grab the HP sauce bottle as it hurtled across the table.

While generally quite dry, the Maggie B does like to occasionally pitch a bucket of water. This morning Ben was tripped up by one of our systems booby traps. Our shower’s control lever, if bumped, sprays the victim with perfect “Indiana Jones” timing. It can be neutralized by turning off an additional valve on the shower head, but that doesn’t always happen. This morning, while getting ready for watch, Ben got an unexpected and unwanted shower below. He went on deck, somewhat drenched, to complaint to Theresa. Just as his head appeared from the hatch to voice his irritation, the Maggie B finished the job with a perfectly-aimed bucket full. He got no sympathy from T’Weez.

One skill highly important for long-distance cruising, but not taught in most sea schools, is being a good librarian. Ships have endless systems: life rafts, watermakers, fuel pumps, portable VHF’s, roller furling, stove gas shut-offs, transformers, etc., etc. Everything comes with installation manuals, parts catalogs and operating instructions. If you have the paperwork and reasonable spares, you can fix most everything. Without the manuals you have to be a plumbing, electrician, diesel mechanic, rigging superman, or wait for the next port and hope. The Maggie B has a shelf about a meter long of just manuals.

Sailing in the dark on night on the shoulder of a storm can be a marvelous experience. Last night was mostly overcast, but with occasional stars shining through gaps here and there. The sea was large and boisterous, but only letting occasional mists of spray on board. The rain had ended. White caps were faintly visible in the light of the red and green riding lights. The wake could be seen briefly lit with the white stern light, rushing into the night at ten knots. Black-on-black waves intermittently blocked the faint horizon like 2-D cutouts moved back and forth in a school play’s seascape scene. Just at the setting of the half-moon, a small gap opened in the clouds to light the scene:

The setting half moon
Seen through a break in the rain:
A last kind gesture.

All is well.