Eat, sleep, watch, repeat. That’s pretty much life on Sea Dragon as we cruise into our 5th day at sea with no land in sight, no internet or cell phone connection and far away from all those daily stresses that now seem so insignificant. A typical day at sea begins with one of the watch teams enjoying the calm and beauty of the sunrise over uninterrupted 360 degree ocean views, followed by scrambled eggs and avocado on toast and a quick boat clean. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew sleep soundly below deck after their nightshifts sailing under a spectacularly starry sky, pointing out constellations and contemplating how little the world would change by the time we return.
Soon there will be a watch changeover and the new watch team will prepare lunch; Falafel gyros with homemade hummus is on the menu today. Food is a big part of sailing offshore, while we are eating one meal we are already planning the next. Meal times are a way of brining the entire crew together to reflect on the day and catch up with each other outside of their designated watch schedule. We are a vegetarian boat so those used to grilling steaks on the barbecue have been challenged with recreating some of the crew’s favorite dishes from all over the world.
Before lunch is served, with a slight wind shift at hand, we hoist the spinnaker pole to pole out the yankee and sail wing on wing (mainsail and headsail are on opposite sides). Once lunch is finished, the third watch team takes over to wash up and then take a turn at the helm as Sea Dragon surfs down the waves at 10 -12kts. Meanwhile, the off watch teams are either enjoying a book in the sun on deck, or having a siesta below.
The hours of the days pass by surprisingly fast as the conversations roll on about dreams of buying one’s own boats and sailing the world, and deeper conventions about what brought them to sign up for such an adventure. Above us, our stowaway boobies (it’s actually the name of the bird) are causing havoc on our wind vane as they play ‘merry go round’. They land on top of the mast and show displeasure in our reefing maneuvers by relieving themselves on the sail and on Scott.
The delicious aroma of spices of an Indian curry fill the boat bow to stern as the next watch team prepares dinner. With the big white sails billowing aloft, the crew find a balance of keeping a good watch on deck, steering the boat, trimming sails and serving up a delicious meal. It keeps us all busy as we continue south towards the tiny atoll, Palmyra…150m to go.
By Maggie