Tonga to Fiji - Day 2
04 September 2010 | Enroute to Fiji
Alison
Well, we're not wimps, but we are whimpering a bit.
Last night went very well, the wind was a steady 15-20 knots and the seas, while rather choppy and mixed- up, weren't really that bad. And today has gone, overall, just fine, but the wind and seas are increasing as forecast; right now we're seeing a steady 27-30knots. The boat is handling it all very well, as we knew it would. At this point we're heavily reefed with just "a scrap of a main and a scrap of a jib" as Greg used to say, and still barreling along at over 7 knots.
The worst part so far is some physical discomfort. Although neither of us was ever prone to seasickness in the past, the last few passages have introduced us to mild mal-de-mer, and it makes for a rather bleak experience. So we're not eating much, are trying to stay hydrated, and have found the 3 best places on the boat for comfort. Allan has pretty much set up camp on the downwind side of the cockpit with me on the floor just beneath him on a pad. This keeps me stable and rather near the center of gravity on the boat. The third best place is the stern bunk, where we take our breaks, and we've been rotating in and out of there.
My friend Carol once told me that listening to music through earphones helps to ease the queasiness, so we've both been lost in our own worlds with our I Pods on, and overall it's been helping. We got doused about a half hour ago by a wild wave from the port side; we heard it roaring up and before we could react the cockpit floor was oozing with water. So now I'm in my foulies for the night.
Really, it's no worse than anything we've been in before, in fact it's quite a lot better than Day 3 of the Baja Ha Ha last October, the day that taught us a lot about ourselves and our boat. So we'll get through this night and then we'll be inside the reefs on the eastern side of the Lau group in the Fiji Islands and will be better protected from the seas, which will help some. The winds, however, aren't forecast to start dying off until midnight tomorrow. In the meantime, we'll keep whimpering and try not to starve to death. (Food tally for the day: a bowl of cereal each.)