"It is what it is"
14 June 2011
After a week together - we decided to shift partners for the watches to change it up. I'm not so certain that I may not have had something to do with this suggestion, seeing as how it was my crewmate on our watch, Steve, who suggested the change!
Steve has probably the most sailing miles in passage making under his belt and I certainly was not going to let an opportunity like that get away from me. With the long hours on watches, I made it a point to fill in whatever gaps that I thought had from his information bank. At one point of time after a particularly successful grilling session - he said, "You sure ask a lot of questions - you sure you're not a cop?"
My next watch partner is Heather, Steve's wife and first mate on the Columbia. I'll have to go a little bit more slowly with more subtleness and stealth, because I'm certain she will be an equally rich source of knowledge!
The trade-off with the "dogwatch" - running from 2 AM-- 8 AM is that you get to watch the sunrise. It is a welcome sight and tends to give you a bolus of energy with a new infusion level of alertness, making the last hours of your watch pass more quickly.
With the broken sleep patterns - I never thought that going to sleep could be such a source of anticipated pleasure. The rocking of the boat as it moves through the swells with the rustle of water washing pass the hull is as soothing as any lullaby.
You get to catch up of a lot of the reading that you had been leaving aside. My aft cabin looks like a community library with my collection of books spread around.
We are starting to make a dent in our communication problems and at least have our SSB pactor modem e-mail communication tool working again. We have still not solved the satellite phone problem but have some irons in the fire along that regard as well. One thing out here - you have plenty of time to think about your solutions while standing your watches.
All in all - a life-changing experienceswhere most of the world matters not! It is only your next watch that is of significance.