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