On Passage to Kupang Part Two

Sunday, July 24, 2011: With four of us aboard, we are able to enjoy a very luxurious watch schedule. We each take a two-hour night watch between 10pm and 6am, then we each take a four-hour "daytime" watch. Captain Tom gets a little screwed, because his four-hour watch begins at 6pm and runs until I get up at 10pm. Since the sun is down around 7pm, this means most of his watch hours are in the dark. I, too, have a bit of extra dark time, coming back on at 6am, but it is totally compensated by getting to enjoy the sunrise. My sweet hubby, light sleeper that he is, makes this even nicer by getting up early and making the first round of coffee.

The wind improved today, and by mid morning we were actually able to shut the engine down and sail. I think Captain Tom does not want us to get bored, because he doesn't hesitate to try different sail combinations: pole out to the right, pole out to the left, main up, main down, wing and wing, etc. All this deck exercise is having exactly the consequence he is aiming for, that is to say we are learning the ways of the boat, which lines are which, what sequence stuff has to happen. Have I mentioned that Quantum Leap has electric winches?

However, these catamaran guys have high expectations; where on T2 we would have calculated our passage on an average speed of 4.5-5 kts, they calculate on 6.5-7kts! Many cruisers, if they fall below their threshold speed, won't hesitate to fire up that iron genny, and catamaran sailors (most of the boats around us are cats) are no exception. Speeds that Don and I find practically breakneck are too pokey for them, and by evening the engine was back on. I'm sure it doesn't help/hurt that we know there is this huge fleet of boats behind us! One of the big advantages of being out front is the limited number of vessels we have to worry about not running over!

The whole catamaran motion question has been interesting. It is amazing how much stuff just sits out. For example, a water bottle left on the head counter in the morning will still be sitting there in the evening. Ditto the French press coffee pot, a jar of honey, the Easy Yo Yogurt maker, etc.

This is not to say there isn't motion. It is a jostle from right to left that leaves me wobbling like a drunkard. And, when you have an aircraft carrier landing platform for a front deck, it makes it pretty hard to practice the "one hand for you, one hand for the boat rule!" Tom had some spare fresh water in a tank he wanted to clean out, so we used it to sluice off and scrub away the Northern Australian dust. The bucket barely sloshed, but my mop and I could barely keep upright. I notice that Bette Lee moves around a lot more confidently than I do, so it may be that I just have to develop better catamaran sea legs.

The sleeping, however, has been terrific. No bracing against the walls, no high or low sides. I find I can drop off into a deep snooze with hardly a hesitation. The temperatures have been really nice. Not too hot during the day, and cool overnight (but get warmer as we move away from the continent.

Tonight I had galley duty, and, since we had eaten the rest of Bette Lee's Roo stew for lunch, I worked with the remainder of yesterday's fish to concoct of pescado veracruz over whole wheat pasta. Judging by the clean plates, I think I measured up. It is very civilized that we all take a break, just before sunset, to sit down and have a nice meal at the table together.

It's been surprising how little boat traffic -- other than other rally boats -- that we have seen, this being a major shipping corridor. Last night we approached and passed an off-shore oil platform that cast a bright, light lume into the sky from more than 25 miles away. As we neared, it broke into three separate lumes for three platforms, and just as I went below we were close enough to see the flames from the gas burning, plus several large crude oil carriers, approaching the platform to load, popped up on the AIS list.