We started the race Friday at noon....it is now Monday at 4 pm. This is what a daily schedule looks like:
We have "teams" of two people who work 4 hours; sleep 4 hours. These four teams overlap each other by 2 hours...that means there are always 4 people on deck. My scheduled team is on deck 8 pm to midnight; 4 to 8 am; noon to four pm.
Every day someone is in charge of "food": freeze dried meals plus ten million snacks that certainly don't conform to any notion of proper nutrition. I brought some frozen meals from home and microwavable meals from the grocery. We all have cocoa, coffee and tea.
Everyone except me has sailed/raced just about their whole lives - which means I have the opportunity to learn since I started only about 8 years ago.
Some of us never met the others - but amazingly that did not interfere with us bonding as a team almost immediately. That bonding as a team is sooo important to our being able to do a good job. Everybody gets along and the humor is part of the glue.
I finally got a shower today (baby wipes kept me going) in the tiniest "head" (bathroom on boat).
Unlike Transpac, I am staying hydrated and eating regularly and snacking. All of that actually is extremely important for attitude and effort. I have a scopolamine patch to counteract any possibility of sea sickness (that is deadly when you are in middle of ocean and can't get off. LOL.
The first day was difficult with huge confused waves and wind pressure was insufficient. Today we are cruising along waiting for our next tactical move.
I understand my dogs keep searching the house for me and then sit in front of my husband, Lew, whining with the question on their minds: "Hey, dude, what did you do with Mommy?" Hahahaha
This race is going to be longer than we thought because of light wind... The tracking mechanisms for all the boats in this race do not have sufficient battery charge to follow us all the way into Puerto Vallarta. Sorry - I guess the folks who set that up didn't really consider early weather reports. Stuff happens.
Saw some tuna so we have fishing line dragging from the stern of KATANA hoping to catch sushi for dinner...No luck yet. We also saw whales, lots of sea turtles and dolphin. Seeing these critters face to face is so much more exciting than seeing them captured in aquariums or zoos.
My watch is over...I might take a nap to get ready for 8 to midnight call. Be well.
