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We left
Cap Verde on December 11. Both of them were seasick within the first hour or so.
There was a heavy sea, so it was no wonder. Especially Joseph threw up a great
deal, and I was the only one eating dinner. Robert just sat there looking
woeful, but he never complained.
Reefed in the Atlantic
Reefed in the Atlantic
Damn - no fish today...
Robert,
with a globe in the berth, where both of them sleep. He didn't know that the
world looked like this
Just before rounding the last island at Cap Verde they asked if it would soon be
better. We were hopping and bopping on the small waves. "Nope, but soon we will
also be rolling. Does anyone want to go ashore?". "No, but do we have another
bucket........?"
Seasickness was one of the things I had warned them about, and the cramped space
another. I only have one bed and that's mine, I don't want to share it with
anyone. I had set up the front end(/bow) with a mattress they brought along.
Where they claim there is room enough for the both of them. Otherwise one of
them would just sleep outside.
On day 3, Joseph began to feel better and started to be able to hold down food.
Robert just looked even more woeful. Joseph is 39 years old and Robert is 26.
After about a week, things calmed down. Now both of them were able to eat and
hold down food - more or less. Robert was actually feeling poorly during the
whole trip and had lost visible weight. I just don't get that, considering the
amount of candy they shoveled in.
Why do Africans always stare at you? No matter what I was doing, I could feel
their eyes in (the back of) my neck. If it looked just the least bit interesting
they would move closer. As if you were starring in a movie. Now and then they
really get to me. After about a week, they started carving wood sculptures for
me. Now I have got entire families of hippos, elephants, lions, etc.
In the morning I always make oatmeal porridge or rice pudding, and for dinner I
always have rice and fish. And once in a while when I get tired of eating fish,
I eat rice and corn with lots of piri-piri and ketchup on top. They made a stew
consisting of canned vegetables, tuna or canned meat mixed with ketchup, onions,
etc. They made enough for 3-4 days. It was stored outside the whole time and was
reheated in the morning. I think it was to kill the bacteria, none of us felt
sick from eating it. Neither one of them knew how to use a can opener, since
they had never tried using one before.
Neither Robert nor Joseph knows how to swim, so I had put emphasis on safety and
probably well and truly exaggerated, resulting in Joseph categorically declining
to leave the cockpit without a lifeline. A hell of a fuss.
Joseph,
who can't swim. Notice all the safety lines(/lifelines) he is wearing
Since I'm sailing with two ??? foresails, it's going to be quite a while before
I make it back to pick up a man overboard......... From the start I had told
them that they could just grab whatever they felt like. I didn't want to be
asked about it every time. After a week's time I felt like eating chocolate
biscuits. I had bought a carton with 20 packs (each containing 10 biscuits) at a
mega mall at Gran Canaria. But dammit, there were none left. Nor were there any
nuts or Bounty chocolate bars. Every night when I went to bed, the two of them
had been in the cockpit, eating an average of two packs of biscuits per man, per
day. Plus everything else such as chocolate and 10 cans of fruit, etc. They
simply couldn't help themselves.
Apart from that, things went pretty smoothly. Now and then after a couple of
weeks, I had to vent my spleen. When for instance they were rattling and
stumbling around inside the cabin and e.g. sat on my head: "HOLD ON TO THE
FUCKING PIPES, WILL YOU? HOW HARD CAN IT BE?". |
