day 9 - far away from everything

far away from everything
Originally uploaded by lawatt

from my journal, day 9 (june 15):
"D. is making me tea below, the others are asleep -- light wind, flat seas, and the same overcast greeting us as the sky gets lighter. for some reason this morning I'm really feeling the distance from land -- the sea stretches so far in every direction, it feels like being in the middle of a wide desert -- and moving so slowly across it somehow magnifies that vastness -- but in a good way... [it] brings the pureness and intensity of the ocean's size, and its indifference, into clear view, gently undulating silvery blue going on and on and on as far as my mind can imagine."

perhaps ironically, this is the only day we saw any marine mammals on the whole trip -- David and i saw two whales (probably humpbacks) on our morning watch, passing our starboard side about 50 yards off (too far to capture on camera) & heading west -- and right at dusk a group of about 5 or six small dolphins swam by the boat, then disappeared.

and during morning watch, after sending David below to get some extra sleep (we were just motoring with the autopilot on & the jib rolled up, so no need for both of us to stay awake on watch), I took note of another visit from an albatross:
"wings so broad and dark, crossing our bow's path, wheeling around once, and then heading off south -- almost seeming like a sea crreature, it flies so close to the surface. made me catch my breath."

verrrrrry briefly that morning the wind turned momentarily behind us, and we got about a half-hour of downwind sailing (much more comfortable than upwind) -- but that was it for the entire trip. still, the wind was light enough, and the seas flat, that we all took showers around noon, and I washed my hair -- such a treat! from my journal, "I keep wiggling my toes with the goodness of it all." and noted the following from the book I was re-reading, Blue Hightways by William Least Heat-Moon (p. 189, while driving through Nevada):
"The immensity of sky and desert, their vast absences, reduced me. It was as if I was evaporating, and it was calming and cleansing to be absorbed by that vacancy." seemed pretty appropriate for day 9 on the pacific.

position at noon: 35° 29' 5" N, 140° 49' 8" W -- 24 hour run was 134 nautical miles, and 894 n.m. left to go