Judd:
How bad would it be to go snorkeling with my head wound?
Mostly closed, six days or so, but should have put 12 to 16 stitches in it.
I'm o.k. With the scar, have a lot of forehead to use up. But don't want it to open up.
????

Another tropical day.
As long as the light to moderate breeze keeps up, we'll be drinking tonight.
Showers, real beds, soap, clean clothes.
Yumm yummm, scrumptious.
Try to fill in the blanks from shore.
Mas Mai-tais.

We hope to finish tomorrow evening. Yeah, only one more night of zombie patrol.

Beautiful stars, gorgeous sunrise cutting through the low clouds outlined with electric orange.

Spinnaker back up for the day cruising along. Only the big spinnaker left and the 1/2 oz.. Too much wind for the 1/2 oz. and the big one requires two people to be safe at night. Sleep over speed.

Rum in the tum coming soon.

Lots of blue: water, sky; five, six shades, with white puffies all around.

Our first tropical day. Sunny skies, clouds, light rain cells passing through. Moderate to good wind; nice sailing some fast, all enjoyable. Seas a bit calmer this evening. A panoply of stars above. Few clouds, first moon we've seen, glistening silver water. Light to see the sails by rather than the shroud of endless darkness. Tranquility as the boat slides down wind on fair trade winds. The meditation draws to a close.

Couple few days left. Probably just around 420 miles come morning check in. We do about 180 a day. Word up.

The challenges have been met; the adversities overcome , so far. The Self conflict recognized, pacified and understood. The anticipation of the end begins to taint the air. Mai-Tais, family, friends, enjoyment and frolic await on solid ground. Always bikini judging to be done.

The final overtures, begging to sound and what lies ahead waits, with new gleam and brightness of a fresh scent on the wind and lightness in the eyes.

We had decided to do the jibe again, the one that takes us southwest instead of our western track. Last time was the round down. Moved weight to neutral balance, took down the spinnaker, and reefed the main. Ed noticed a pan in the kitchen, left over ramen from Garrett's lunch.
Ed- "I'm going to rinse this pan first."
He decides against using the wash bucket and just hang over the side.
Garrett - who's driving - "Don't lose that pan, your making me nervous down there."
Ed of course is on the Leeward (low) side. He's holding the pan by both the front and back handles. His arms extended, head through the life line.
Garrett rounds the boat up.
Ed's head is in the water, water flows up and over his body, all his clothes soaked. We recover from the round up. Ed still has the pan, but no dry clean clothes. It gets figured out.

Get ready for the jibe. Jibe goes fine. Bock bock, chicken jibe. I'm back on fore deck duty of course, pull the kite down, pack it up, start to restring lines. I"m on the port side just behind the cabin. An accidental jibe happens, with just the main up. Garrett's not use to sailing on port after four days on starboard. I of course am not even thinking about a jibe with just a main up. That 15Ft (?) metal pole on the bottom of the sail rushes toward my head. I turn to see it coming at the last instant. It hit's me full force just above the eyes, and then the side of my head as i turn with the blow. I'm crouched down to begin with and sink lower clutching my head. Dripping blood from my face.
Ed- "get down in the cockpit"
Bert- "back off ***** i just got ....
I get down in the cabin. Holding a towel against my forehead to stop the bleeding.
E- "I can't believe you weren't knocked unconscious."
B - Grrr.
E- Visions of you being towed by your tether along the side of the boat unconscious.
B- yes that would have been bad.

So Ed, in his own way, is fretting like a worried mother hen.
E- sit down don't come out for hours, what am i supposed to do?
B- well first you check to make sure the patient is alert times three. Do I know my name, what day it is, what year, who's the president etc..
I passed those tests.
B - next you should check pulse and capillary refill, and breathing.
B- the ears are probably a good place to check on the head.
E - yes, all o.k.
By now I've had a couple vicodin, a few advil a beer in hand, and Ed's producing a pack of smokes from the ditch bag. He can't open the smokes, but oddly enough I can.
E - what about your pupil's how do I check dilation.
B - you need a flashlight, see how they're big now in the low light, then small when you shine the flashlight in them. Yes, now take the flashlight out of my eyes, you don't need to shine it there. Yes, remove the flashlight... thanks, see how they get big again.
E- see pupils dilating nicely.
B- can I get a different towel this one smells like your feet and I'm tired of looking at the blood.
E- oh yeah, sorry, of course.

After a short bit I start shuffling through the first aid kit to find a bandage. O.K., well use this, and grab the bandanna from my bag to hold it on.

E- I've got an ace bandage hold on I'll get that.
B - but the bandanna's the right size, and it will be cool with blood on it.

He wraps me in the ace bandage with a gauze pad and antibiotic ointment applied to the wound under the bandage.

I think my heads going to pop it's so tight.

I try to fish out my eyeballs from under the bandage, one of them is blurry from the pressure.

Garrett comes down, "we should call Valis (the communication boat) and see what to do." No response from Valis.

B- Get the sat phone and call Judd's. His number is in the top of the tool box in the stairs. (our land based doctor who hooked us [up] and told us the current changes to basic first aid and CPR.)

G- he might not answer.

He does, that all seems o.k. according to Judd. you might make sure he can follow an o object with his eyes.

B- tell him the bandage is too tight.
B- tell him the bandage is too tight.

If he has a headache in the next hour that might be problematic. We are about 950 miles from land at the moment. Internal bleeding not good.

Judd- the bandage might be too tight.

I sneak over to my bunk later and replace it with my bandanna.
E- boy that works well fits right.

Smoking, Bert half-way through his beer. "you should make sure I don't go to sleep for an hour."

Ed - "O.k., glad you know how to take care of yourself."

Six hours off, for the first time in days. Boy, feel like a new person, ready to race, and play boat some more. Hard way to go about getting a break though.

All's well for those concerned. We'll give you details later.
The worst part is Ed gave me a pack of smokes he was hiding.
Well this scar will have some meaning.
Zoom zoom.