Part 1 – Butting heads again why do I even bother?
The very first time I met HS he said, “I don’t like to sail.” I
didn’t believe him. I like to sail. I knew he had circumnavigated the world
once in a sailboat. It was inconceivable to me that he didn’t like to sail. I
assumed that he meant that being at sea was not his favourite part of the
experience. Well, I was wrong. He doesn’t like to sail. And, as are most people
who don’t like to do certain things, he is not very good at it. And, he has no
intention of ever becoming any better. And, he hates it when people make
comments about how he set the sails that might, perhaps, be taken as criticism.
I should have realized when Nick, our previous crew, got disgusted after 3
days, because HS didn’t know any sail theory and wouldn’t listen to even simple
suggestions, that that was the way it was. I still had hope at that point. Now
there is none. We are sailing in marginal winds, about 10 knots right from
behind, and so it is critical how the sails are set in order to make speed. We
are going about 3 knots. Nick could set the sails and have us going 5. I asked
HS this morning if I could try letting the main out for 15 minutes to see if it
would make any difference (it is set, as usual, for a close reach, the only
position he ever puts it in no matter the wind direction) and within minutes he
was swearing at me. I was trying, truly, to be diplomatic. I failed. We are
still bumping along at 3 knots, the sails backwinding and flogging. Soon he
will get tired of this and start the motor. And I will just keep my mouth shut.
It is after all his sails that are getting ruined with the flogging and he who
will pay for the diesel. It is just my own sanity that I have to worry about!
(PS Two days later… Another preventer broke last night, though
not on my shift, another accidental gibe took place, and when I got up in the
morning I noticed that the main had been let out a looong way. Hmmm. We are
also going faster. I am totally certain that HS will not even mention this, let
alone give me any credit, but I, nonetheless, feel vindicated!)
Part 2 – Wonderful new crew
This leg is super due to our new crew, Sophie and Adelheid, a
pair of German sisters in their 20’s who are on a self-directed gap year having
finished one degree and not yet started the next. Both are fun and intelligent.
For example, this morning Adi brought a plate out to the
cockpit with ‘traditional rich German chocolate pudding cake on it’ and asked
if I wanted to try some. It looked dark and delicious. I admit to taking quite
a large forkful of what turned out to be yesterday’s left over coffee grounds! Gotta
love that girl.
For example, Sophie, who speaks German and French and Spanish
and Portuguese and is learning English, is reading Ken Follet’s World Without End in English and asked
what the words prior and prioress meant. I explained that the prior was the
head of the monks and the prioress the head of the nuns. ‘Hmm,’ she said, ‘so
it likely comes from the same root word as primary or first.’ and we ended up
spending at least half an hour discussing other words stemming from the same
root. Gotta love that girl too.
(PS Two days later…
days slip by as lovely as could be. All three of us crew spend the days reading
cheerfully outdoors, stopping occasionally to do laundry or have showers for
ourselves or to get drinks or snacks or make meals for the others. We stop an
hour before sunset and sit side by side watching the sky give its nightly
performance before coming inside and having supper.)
