(no subject)

Hello again,

Well for the first time this trip it's rained when I was on watch. I just finished my 6-9pm shift and it was raining the entire time, and just for good measure it decided to give me a good downpour for the last 15 minutes. After all, it was very refreshing to be getting drenched with fresh rain water opposed to fresh salt water. The salt stays on you like white on rice! Everyday we pray for a good downpour so we can dance around naked on the decks and get clean, which turns out to be a lost cause
because moments later you will probably be splashed in the face with salt water anyway. After drying off from my 3 hour shower, I heard Marcel beckon from the cockpit for my help. When I went up to give him a hand the boat hit a wave which sent me flying into the nicely wet seats which negated the drying process all together. Oh well tis the life of a sailor I guess.

We'll be reaching the equator sometime tomorrow, with the bubbly ready to be consumed and the drunken conversations resumed. Happy hour has become more and more frequent and intense as the days go by. As the alcohol consumption goes up, the intensity of the conversations on board Conversations II increases exponentially. Don't worry we are all being very responsible, and some of us are bigger drinkers than others so there's always someone to be the designated driver. Plus we have Natasha at the
helm anyways haha. After we hit the equator we'll have about 1100 miles or so (which is what the GPS tells me but it's a complete guess really) to the beautiful islands of Fiji, where Cress and I will be saying goodbye to Marcel, Jim, and Roland and welcoming 4 new crew members who will help us get to Vanuatu and Darwin. But that's still several days away. Fiji will be full of snorkeling and plenty of time spent at the beach.

Tired and wet (again) so I'm going to sleep, which could prove to be difficult with the boat jumping around in the waves. Oh well tis the life of a sailor I guess.

Til next time, Lots of love,

Matt

Neptune is waiting

Hello everyone, my name is Marcel and I am one of the five member crew heading from Hawaii to Fiji. We have been at sea now for 13 days and have almost arrived at the equator. We should arrive at Neptunes' front door in less than an hour and asked for his blessing for a continued save journey. To persuede the kingly gentlemen of the high seas we have brought some champagne in his honor and will consume it at the appointed hour. We have traveled almost 2000 miles since our departure and still have
over a thousand to go. During this time we have had the pleasure of seeing many a flying fish, some of which came for a visit on deck, and many different seabird species. The amazing thing about that is that there is no land within hundreds of miles, yet these birds can survive above a dessert of water, floating around in the air and skimming in between the waves like surfers. They make it look so easy. And just like these birds conversation II has also made it easy for us to adopt our new way
of life; the life we share with these birds. The way she rides the waves and troughs and delivers us safely to our destination with, of course, the blessing of Neptune. Cheers!

(no subject)

Hello again,

Well for the first time this trip it's rained when I was on watch. I just finished my 6-9pm shift and it was raining the entire time, and just for good measure it decided to give me a good downpour for the last 15 minutes. After all, it was very refreshing to be getting drenched with fresh rain water opposed to fresh salt water. The salt stays on you like white on rice! Everyday we pray for a good downpour so we can dance around naked on the decks and get clean, which turns out to be a lost cause
because moments later you will probably be splashed in the face with salt water anyway. After drying off from my 3 hour shower, I heard Marcel beckon from the cockpit for my help. When I went up to give him a hand the boat hit a wave which sent me flying into the nicely wet seats which negated the drying process all together. Oh well tis the life of a sailor I guess.

We'll be reaching the equator sometime tomorrow, with the bubbly ready to be consumed and the drunken conversations resumed. Happy hour has become more and more frequent and intense as the days go by. As the alcohol consumption goes up, the intensity of the conversations on board Conversations II increases exponentially. Don't worry we are all being very responsible, and some of us are bigger drinkers than others so there's always someone to be the designated driver. Plus we have Natasha at the
helm anyways haha. After we hit the equator we'll have about 1100 miles or so (which is what the GPS tells me but it's a complete guess really) to the beautiful islands of Fiji, where Cress and I will be saying goodbye to Marcel, Jim, and Roland and welcoming 4 new crew members who will help us get to Vanuatu and Darwin. But that's still several days away. Fiji will be full of snorkeling and plenty of time spent at the beach.

Tired and wet (again) so I'm going to sleep, which could prove to be difficult with the boat jumping around in the waves. Oh well tis the life of a sailor I guess.

Til next time, Lots of love,

Matt

Sailing Progress

Dear family and friends,
We are celebrating tonight as we have clearly passed by the dreaded doldrums and we should reach the equator in the next couple of days. Tonight we are speeding along at 7 knots complements of South Eastern trade winds. For the past couple of days we would sometimes hit a complete loss of wind and the boat would just bob aimlessly - this is the doldrums. We did enjoy dolphins this morning playing only 5 feet next to our boat. Otherwise little sign of sea life except for some small flying fish and
the odd bird. Roland has been a great addition to our crew- he is a brilliant IT expert and has helped Cress with a number of electronic's issues on the boat. His girl friend Eunice is organizing the best return flights from Fiji - her phone number is 604-723-9427. We don't know when we will arrive so any booking has to be tentative. Please contact her for latest details. Mom did you get my email? My hand is healing very well - no infection. It is very hot in the cabin but on the deck the balmy
breeze is very pleasant. Meals are tasty although we are running out of fruit and bread, but we have an abundance of everything else.
Glad to hear the news that Matt and Rick got home safely and of course very proud of our soccer star grandchildren.

Love Grandpa Jim

PS The stars in the Southern hemisphere near the equator are so beautiful as to take your breath away.

bob, bob,bob bobing along

Howdy!
Yes, bobbing along would be us. We have entered the twilgiht zone of the ITCZ at about 6 degrees N and are now slowed down to between 1 and 4 knots. Last night, just before dark, the wind veered from NNE to SE to SSE where it remains at 2 to 5 knots. Still, the boat moves, sailing about 51 miles in the last 14 hours. A small low pressure has just slipped by the the the east, and the grib weather file calls for SSE backing the SE then ESE as we move south over the next 24 hours. You might say we are
through, if the Southerlies hold and build and back as forecast.

C Cresswell

September 27 Update: If wind direction is an indicator,we may be through the Doldrums. We had a good wind of 10 to 15 knots last night out of the E, but it has deserted us just now as I hang on down below to type this. Now trying to down load today's weather grib file to see what the forecasters say.

the Doldrums r'us

Finally, got the email out! The extra voltage from running the engine made the difference by giving us a better propagation range for the ham radio. The only land stations I have been able to reach for sending email by ham radio have been in San Diego - 2500 miles away, so I guess we needed the extra power.

And, when the email goes out, our weather map comes in! This morning it shows that we are skirting a small low pressure laying stationary to the east of us. We are still sailing dead down wind, wing on wing with the main sail set to starboard and the genoa poled out to port. Very comfortable, very pretty, pretty fast! Despite the nearby low, the wind is holding steady at 15 knots from the NE,which gives us a steady 6 to 7 knots of boat speed.

So far, we are sailing about 150 to 180 miles a day. Here is what our track shows:
Day 1 & 2 87.2 Nm!
Day 3 88.1 Nm
Day 4 185.9 Nm
Day 6 167.8 Nm
Day 7 158.1 Nm

This is pretty darn good sailing for our first week. Though not as fast as it would be if we had a bit more wind, this is a pretty good pace.

So far, we have sailed about 800 nautical miles, or about 1450 Kilometers. For some of us on board, the reality that we have still 1788 miles to go is settling in. "What the heck will I do for two more weeks of this?" is what I heard from one crew mate. Who knows. Usually when I hear myself saying that, the weather changes by getting nasty, then any chance of boredom vanishes!

The nearby low is really a part of the ITCZ - the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone, or the Doldrums. This is where the NE trade winds of the northern hemisphere meet the SE trade winds of the Southern Hemisphere. It is known as the place of no wind, where sea weed and sailboats gather to bob about in the calm for days under a burning tropical sun; where the pitch boils out the decks under foot, and the crew is put over board in the ships boats to row and tow their ship for 15 hours at a time with
only the Captain and helmsman still aboard...... No wonder sailors of lore held such fear of the place. You can see why, then, with this good following wind, I feel we are like a boat load of burglars, sneaking around the back of the house, hoping the Doldrum Police will not notice our passing and shut down our wind. For now, we will cross our fingers and tiptoe on through the next couple of days and nights. Shhhhhh!

C. Cresswell

Ahh, for a life on the rolling sea

Ahh, for a life on the rolling sea!
Where a spill-less travel coffee mug leapt down from its secure place and assaulted the unsuspecting navigator with scalding hot coffee;
Where the cook flew across the galley, bound for the main salon, nearly slashing off his finger with a tiny tea spoon, then bled profusely on the carpet;
Where the stew pot tumbled happily from stove top pot holder into the tool bin, and ground stew into the tools.
And up on deck, where the mainsheet happily sawed through the refurbished mainsail;
Where the spinnaker pole ate a genoa sheet and threatened to be-head foredeck crew before it could be lowered safely to deck;
Where non skid decks threatened to shed precious crew overboard and even the helmsman lost his grip on the ship's wheel and bounced his buttocks on the cup-holder corner. Ouch!
Ahh, yes, for a life on the rolling sea!
C Cresswell

Day 7 with coffee all over the place!

Hello again,

I first want to apologize to anyone who hasn't received a personal email...this is because I didn't write any of them down and don't have the internet to access my contact list. Oh well, I'll make sure I get to it when we arrive in Fiji. I've emailed my mother (I think, but the address was typed by memory) but she hasn't replied, or she has replied to my hotmail account and that can't be checked on board.

Well as for the sailing, we've been cruising steady for the last few days, the winds have been good and you'll all be glad to hear that Natasha is getting along with everyone and she's taking care of the helm! She makes our lives a lot lot easier. As you can see from the tracker, if you're paying attention, we haven't gone too far but it sure feels like we have. It's amazing to think that we are crossing the Pacific at jogging speed!!!

Today the sea is rockier than ever and the boat is going side to side, making the everyday things we have to do a lot more difficult. Normally making pancakes would take no time at all, but on board it's a different story, a much different story. Batter flying all over the place, olive oil slamming to the floor after you carelessly forgot to stow it somewhere safe. You all think that putting on your favourite pair of shorts is easy...well, it's not. Trying to sit on the toilet with your legs pressed
against the far wall, your left hand holding on for dear life with the other holding a book about betting in golf. I won't even mention how difficult the next stage of the process is but I'm sure you all get the point. For some reason the guys on board keep telling me I give too much information on some things, but I'm not sure why that is??? haha!!

I challenge you to do this; make coffee at one in the morning, the boats slamming back and forth in the waves, no one's awake so you have to be somewhat quiet, all while watching that the boat doesn't start heading back to Hawaii! You'd think that once the hot water has been poured into the perkolator (spelling?) the job is finished. Well you're not even close. Next you need to get the milk substitute out of the fridge while holding on to the coffee pot. Then you think "all I need is the sugar."
Well you know what? It's dark at night!!! You need to find the sugar, get a spoon pour the coffee into a sub par travel mug designed for cars not boats, then get the sugar into the cup. Well sailors should have been born with three arms and four legs, it would make life a lot easier! Eventually you say screw the sugar, the milk tastes like almonds anyway and the coffee is strictly to keep you awake during your middle of the night watch. Try it. It's fun!!! For some of us, even when the coffee's
made and ready to drink, it still spills we get angry and throw the inferior travel mug, with coffee, out of the cockpit and into the ocean! I won't mention who that was.

Well again a short novel for you all to read and hopefully enjoy. I hope that you have gained some insight into the sailing world, or at least my sailing world! It's a lot more fun than it sounds, and really it's a truly remarkable experience.

Matt

Sailing the ocean blue

From Quiet Jim

Our home on the water saling on "Conversation 2" is living up to its name. We never stop talking and surprise we all have lot to say. There is just the 5 of us and lots of spare time on our hands with a very strong working Captain picking up any slack or mistakes by the slackers. I don't know why they call me the quiet one? As Matt explained I made a lot of noise yesterday with my first shot as chef when I got so excited at my tasty French toast that I failed to hold on when a big wave hit and
I went flying backwards - fell on my back and hip banged my head on the cupboard, but most painful I cut my hand with the spoon I was using for the batter. Doctor Cress took over and with aplomb sewed me up using a staple gun. [Matt took a pass on this interesting procedure as he has already decided to also take a pass on being a doctor]. Today we took the staple out as it seems to have done its work. Too bad doctor and Captain Cress are taking care of my medical needs pro bono as so far I just
wasted money buying medical insurance - mind you the trip is not over.
Speaking of converstion we had a delightful Socrates seminar last evening at the suggestion of Captain Cress who asked us to write down the five most important questions in our lives now. It was great fun even for the quiet one. As my sweetheart Cheri knows too well I do like to participate. By the way all 5 of us had at least one question about finding our purpose in life [I think along the Eckart Tolle lines] and how we could give something back and make the world a better place... like Mother
Teresa. Perhaps the wonderful tranquilty of sailing in the beautiful tropics spawns these altruistic feelings. So far it has also spawned one whale a blowing many dolphins a playing and more fish a flying, but no fish a catching.
I have been reading lots of poetry from my first year poetry book where I wrote a quote from Wordsworth, "Poetry has its origin in the overflow of powerful feelngs recollected in tranquility." My English Professor made these dead poets come alive with such powerful feeling that the next year I switched from science to arts and from pre-med to pre-law. The sailing tranquility is also spawning these life changing memories. Even my new scar[likely permanent] on my hand from the spoon reminds me of
the coral scar on my ankle trying to cross the reef with the wrong wave in Manihiki during my mission. I appreciate the supportive email sent to us from Cheri and Shauna. Please interrupt our tranquility with more news. We don't hear anything because we are internetless.

Oh Natasha!!

Hello to all of those who get to live a balanced lifestyle (meaning you can walk without tipping over). I believe it's our fourth day and sea and so far so good. The wind was quite low the first few days but we've started to get her going with a lot of help from the wind that decided to kick in sometime yesterday! Natasha (our wind vane) and I were getting along very well the first three days, but then there was the 3 hours last night where we fought and fought, I adjusted her one way and she
went the other. It was an ongoing battle the entire night! I was on the helm for those 3 hours with no help from her at all!!! It was an exhausting 3 hours to say the least because when she and I get along, the boat pretty much steers itself only needing a few minor adjustments. Well the good news is I woke up this morning after a rocky sleep in the v-berth in better spirits and a willingness to work things out with Natasha. I was just on the helm for the last hour and she was steering the boat
beautifully, just like the old times!!! We've agreed to stay nice to each other and lets hope we both mean it because it makes life a lot easier for me. Cress, Jim, Marcel, and Roland have been great company so far and the crew seem to be getting along just great!

We had our first minor accident this morning with a fall and a cut. Jim cut his finger, on a spoon no less, but the doctor on board (Cress) took care of the problem in no time at all and Jim took it all like a champ. I'm glad to report that he's doing well, having a rest and taking it easy for the rest of the day. On the bright side, it happened while Jim was making some delicious French toast, which he himself got to enjoy after he was all repaired.

At the moment we are cruising along at a steady 6 knots and we're well on our way to Fiji and hopefully making up some lost time from the first 2 days!

My first taste of sailing has been a dream so far with the highlights being my watches at night! It has to be one of the most peaceful experiences of my life, the sound of the waves crashing against the side of the boat is incredibly soothing, the air is remarkably fresh, and the stars stunningly bright! I find myself thanking the universe again and again for such a beautiful experience!

I hope all is well back on land and don't worry mom I've been very safe. Thanks for reading this short novel and don't worry they'll keep coming!!

Lots of love,

Matt

Second mornig at sea

Captain Cress here.
Day two has broken bright and sunny, but even more significantly, with wind! In the first two days,we covered only what we would have normally sailed in a day - about 170 miles. It was pretty slow going last night, drifting along at nothing to 2 knots. For a whine, we drifted along on the other tack with the light air coming from the south - right on our nose, but around 5 am, a breeze out of the east at about 10 knots that now has us sailing along at about 6 knots on a beam reach. Nice.

Last night I managed to raise the Pacific Sea Farer's Net on the ham radio and give them our position. Our Position should be showing on their website, Yoreps. Nice to know that we still show up somewhere in the world out there!

We are settling into our world now. The crew is learning how to sail the boat, especially to get her to self steer with the wind vane steering system. Yesterday I tried to repair the mechanical self steering only to cook the control system when I hooked up the wiring incorrectly! What a dumb thing to do. Then a few hours later, the boys were attempting to wire up our music with a new amplifier, and for the second time that day I smelled the the sour smell of smoking baklite as yet another electronic
instrument left this world for electronic heaven. Oh well, guess we'll just sing shanties all the way to Fiji. At least the windvane steering is working.

We have a watch system of 3 hours on, 9 hours off, which is pretty relaxed. This is possible because we are doing one man watches that call me frequently on deck to assist in any sail changes or other tasks. I don't stand a watch. This leaves me free to do important things like burn up electronics. So far it is working just great!

Hopefully tomorrow you will hear from us 200 miles further down the line.
TTFN

Underway

And we are off! It took some powerful discipline on our part, but yesterday at last we managed to tear ourselves away from the promises and delights of Hawaii and put to sea for Fiji. On board, we are a crew of five crew, spanning generations x, boomer, and "pre-boomer". There is Fearless Matt Fast (25), Giant Jim Matkin (not a day over 60 it is reported), Restless Rolland Cabana (25, soon on this passage to be 26), Masterful Marcel Schiller (we don't know how old he is, but we do know he has every
hair he was born with and not a one ever out of place), and Captain Crash Cresswell (me, not the oldest but too close to being the oldest at 53). Apparently, we are All Men, which is good news and bad news. (If I could just find a clean spoon my life would be nearly perfect.)

Our fist night was fairly floppy, with too little wind to steady us. No worry, Marcel's pork stew helped us all to sleep. Matt won the sleep contest, sleeping the night away in the v-berth, a full 8 hours, unbroken except for being shaken too early for his watch by one of us waking the wrong guy for the next watch. Morning has dawned nearly windless as we ghost along at about 2 knots about 50 miles from Honolulu. The wind is out of the SE but we are hopeful as the sun rises in the sky, so will the
wind. Otherwise, it will be hot, Damned hot.

Stay tuned for more. I hope to check in with Pacific Seafarers Net tonight so our position will be reported.
C. Cresswell

Hawaii to Singapore via South Pacific....

Some photos of Sf to Hawaii

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to sea we go!

As these last hours wind down in Singapore this morning, I am struck by how fantastic, but disorienting life in the jet age can be. Tomorrow morning I will board an airplane for Hawaii. When I emerge from the airport in Honolulu the day after tomorrow, my days will be as different as days could be. In 12 short hours of flight time, my reality will be transformed. It will be as if they were the lives of two different people. My uniform of work will shift from the long sleeve shirt, tie, dark pants, socks and polished shoes of a ‘professional’ to the shorts, t-shirt, broad brimmed hat, sun glasses, and bare feet of a yacht Captain. My life will pass from the demands of working ashore to the challanges of being at sea 24 hours a day on a small boat. I will go from being a working coach and trainer helping people in Singapore during the day and sleeping at night, to being captain of my own sailing yacht, responsible round the clock for ‘how she goes’ and for my crew. From being surrounded by high concrete towers, awash in the roar of city sounds, I will be high on the bald prairie of the sea, with nothing above or around in every direction except the bare and quiet horizon and sky. How cool is that!? Very. But it is also a bit frightening.
In sailing home to Singapore, it will take us close to 12 weeks to sail the same distance the jet carved out in 12 hours. We will be a sea for weeks at a time, be thousands of miles from the nearest land, and be entirely on own. What we do, and how we care for our boat and for ourselves, is what decides if we reach the far shore at all. It’s up to us. We will need to read the weather, change sails up and down, and plot our course across the trackless sea. At a mere 6 to 8 knots we will sail less than 200 miles a day. It will take us over 3 weeks at sea to sail the first leg from Hawaii to Fiji.
But are the two realities really so different after all? Do we not all need to set sail every day and make our way across the wilderness of what it is to live a human life? Do we not all need to be Captain’s of our own lives, responsible for our own ship and for the crew who sail with us? Do we not need to plot our Course in life to take us to our destinations? Do we not all need Courage every day to meet the challenges of the storms that come upon us? How about Capacity? Do we not need to build our seaworthiness to endure the stresses and strains of daily life? And on our crew in life, our Companions, do we not depend upon them for our safe passage? What carries us, sustains us every day to reach beyond the blank horizon where we know our dreams lie – is it not Curiosity? Finally, in all this striving, in this struggle for life and living, do we need not to hold Compassion for ourselves, and through self love, Compassion for others? Perhaps Compassion is the end point, the final landfall.
These are the 7Cs of passage making – Captaincy, Course, Courage, Capacity, Companions, Curiosity, Compassion. As I see it from living in both worlds, I think living on the sea has a lot to teach us about living life on shore. On shore, in these tough modern times, I think we are forgetting how to be Captains of our own lives. We seem to be forgetting how to plot our own Course to our individual destiny, and failing to culture the Courage it take to embrace life with abandon. Ashore, I see we build our mental Capacity through school and work, but we seem to be forgetting how to round out emotional capacity, our physical capacity and our spiritual capacity. We live our lives from a place of “expertise” full of our own knowing-ness, but are losing touch with how to stand and meet life with Curiosity. We seem confused how to fully embrace our Companions in relationship as partners on our individual journeys. And we seem woefully, tragically, unable to declare love for ourselves, to hold ourselves with Compassion.
Lack of work-life balance is the result of forgetting the 7Cs on land. If our lives seem out of balance, it is not because we “work too hard and don’t play enough”, it is because we are forgetting how to bring ourselves into the equation. We are forgetting how to make who we are and what we are here to offer a part of our lives and importantly, a part of our ‘work’. What I see in the conversation about the 7Cs, is a way to remember how to make our lives an expression of our gifts and our calling.
I must go pack if I am going to get on that airplane! But before I finish, I want to invite you to participate in a conversation with me in this blog over the next three months about what the 7Cs mean for life ashore. I will endeavour to make frequent posts to this blog while at sea on the long trip home and join you by email. Help me find a way to bring the 7Cs ashore, so that we might all live richer, better balanced lives that hold meaning, purpose and happiness!
See you at sea.
Captain Cresswell
BTW we expect to cast off from Hawaii Sept 18 or so, bound for Fiji 3200 miles away!