JESSICA...YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Friday, November 13, 2009
Squally Sailing
Sorry it's been a little while without an update.
I was told that this has become the most watched blog in Australia and stage fright has left me a bit speechless! No just kidding it's all good. Well actually it's pretty amazing and more than a little hard for me to comprehend out here all alone. Well, physically alone. It really is amazing to be able to share the voyage with so many wonderful people. To me, it is just sharing my journey with you, in what is sometimes a not very exciting life. Plodding along out here, taking whatever is thrown at us, just feels completely normal. I know I'm going to get a million cries of disagreement. But think about it. How strange would it feel to you to be describing to the world all the ins and outs of your everyday life? It is all a bit surreal. That said, thank you all for your support!

And talking of those little ins and outs, Ella's Pink Lady and I have been making good progress for the last few days. The latitude read out now puts us in the single digits - wow!

Conditions have mostly been lovely (steady breeze form the east or south east, sunshine and very gentle sea) but have also been frequently interrupted by squalls. Still nothing too severe but just enough to keep me working hard pulling a sail in and out and constantly keeping a lookout for any partially nasty black clouds. Last night a squall with a lot of lightning passed pretty close. Sitting there waiting for it to pass with all the electrics turned off got a little boring, so I made chocolate cookies in the torch light to pass the time. I suppose I should have been a little scared about all the lightning, but after doing everything I could, I figured there wasn't much point in worrying.

I'm finding it hard to believe how the days are flying. In between getting enough sleep, keeping up with the day to day maintenance and chores, checking that fishing line, feeding myself and keeping in touch with everyone back home, time just flies and I'm constantly wondering what happened to the day.

Even though Ella's Pink Lady is built and set up for strength, endurance and easy handling when the weather is nice, I've really been enjoying playing around, tweaking the sails for a little extra speed. Of course as soon the weather is up it's all about being totally conservative!

Lastly, I've only just heard the news from back home about the proposed Traveston Dam project being aborted. I just wanted to say congratulations to everyone on the Sunshine Coast who worked so hard to prevent the Mary Valley from being flooded. It is a good result for my local community.

600nm till the equator!

Jesse
Posted by Jessica Watson at 9:33 PM 242 comments

Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Robbed of Dinner!

Exciting news to report today. I pulled the fishing line in to discover that I finally caught a fish! I'd love to tell you what it was, how big it was and how yummy it tasted, only someone (with rather big teeth!) got to it before me. Apart from a few bits of flesh left hanging on the lure, my beautiful fish had been gobbled up by something bigger. I can only keep trying!

Not much sleep last night because I was keeping an eye on a few nasty looking squalls, nothing much came of them though and we spent the first part of the night drifting backward a little, ouch! There were a few jokes about that when I called in this morning.

Steady progress today though, I've been catching up on a little sleep and enjoying the nice sailing. The Southern Ocean certainly isn't going to be like this.

For all those having a guess at when we cross the line, the latest weather forecast from Bob gives us an eta (estimated time of arrival) at the equator of the 18th, in about 7 days time!


Jesse
Posted by Jessica Watson at 10:08 PM 300 comments


Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Slowly But Surely getting to the Equator!

Not much in the way of wind today, so I spent the morning hand steering and tacking to make the most of the few little puffs of wind we did get. All covered up from the sun in a big dorky straw hat, sunscreen (Ella Bache of course!), sunnys and a sarong, sitting at the tiller was the nicest place to be with a light breeze keeping me cool.

The Fleming Windvane 'Parker' does an amazing job steering, much better than me most of the time, but when the wind drops out to under 5knots, even poor old Parker calls it quits. This afternoon the wind dropped right off to the point where I've just aborted the tiller, as there isn't much point in steering a boat that isn't going anywhere!

It's overcast again now with rain squalls (see pic below) sweeping across the ocean and marching along the horizon. I think I'd be finding the lack of progress pretty frustrating if it wasn't for all the moody greys and blues looking so amazing on the glassed out water.

Despite this afternoon's poor progress, we've still only got 950nm until the equator (that is to the actual point where I'm hoping to cross the equator) and I can't wait for that!

Jesse





Pic: Calm and interrupted by towering rain squalls, it's been a pretty typical day for ITCZ (Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone or 'doldrums'). Lucky for me the ITCZ is pretty weak at the moment, so it shouldn't be too long until we pick up a bit more a breeze to take us to the equator.
Posted by Jessica Watson at 4:06 PM 318 comments


Monday, November 9, 2009
Busy Day and Water

I've just come back into the cabin after pulling the fishing line in for the day. No fish but the lures are covered in huge big teeth marks, so looks like I've been getting some nibbles! Well maybe nibbles isn't the right word? I've decided not to think too hard about exactly what left the great big teeth marks, but I'm sure it wasn't anything nearly as dramatic as my imagination would like me to think.

Looks like it’s going to be another dark night out here and warmer than ever, but I'm a happy girl after a busy and productive day. The sea and wind finally dropped off (and the sun came out!) this morning so I was out of my bunk bright and early ready to launch into a few jobs on
deck that I'd been putting off due to the bouncy conditions. I got through my little list of maintenance and gave Ella's Pink Lady a really good check over for chafe and wear. Then the wind dropped off even more, to the point where we were left to roll a bit un-comfortably, not making any progress. But before it started getting too frustrating, a great big rain cloud came along and gave us a soaking in fresh water. Rain might not sound like something to get too excited about but I was just about in heaven!

Using the mainsail and the little gutters we strategically built into the dodger, I was able to collect enough water to top the water tanks up, fill a few empty containers and give myself a lovely fresh water scrub down. In fact I ended up with more water than I knew what to do with - even after washing all my clothes. So I decided to get right into it and ended up giving every surface in the cabin a wipe down. With the music up and the air temperature down for a while with the rain, I was really enjoying myself and I never thought I hear myself saying that! I've never exactly been one to enjoy cleaning and washing so maybe I am going a little crazy out here after all? It provided me with some great exercise as well.

Anyway this brings us to one of the questions that I still haven't answered for you all – water.

What am I doing for fresh water? Believe it or not along with all the food, Ella's Pink Lady is pretty much carrying all the fresh water I'll need. It might sound a bit hard to believe but I'm only using fresh water for drinking and cooking and there's only one of me. Also, I'm relying on being able to top up the tanks again in squalls a few times before leaving the tropics and heading south. As an emergency backup Pink Lady's also carrying a little hand desalinater, but judging by the amount of water I was so easily able to collect today, I don't think that I'll ever need it.

Another squall came through this evening, dumping a whole lot more rain and keeping my life interesting with a few grumbles of thunder, a pretty strong gust of wind and some random changes of wind direction. Ella's Pink lady took it all in her stride. Compared to some of the more severe tropical squalls I'm sure we'll soon be getting, this little puff will just look a lot like a fluffy white cloud.

There's not a heap of wind at the moment, just a gentle 13knots. But thanks to the quiet conditions this morning the sea has pretty much flatted right out leaving Pink Lady to fly along on a reach, unstopped by any of those wet, bouncy things - waves!

Just glanced at the speedo and we're doing a very healthy 7knots! I wouldn't say no to more of this, but the wind is predicted to drop off again soon, so I expect the next few days will be hard work trying to keep us moving along.

That's me for today. I'm now off to open a tin of mandarin pieces with a double
dose of cream for dessert!

Jesse
Posted by Jessica Watson at 8:33 PM 229 comments


Sunday Blog a little late!

Sunday has been much the same out here. Just had a nice ducking of cool salt water and am running my little fans to try and chase away that sticky humid feeling but I think it's just something I'm going to have to learn to live with.

My sleeping bag has been safely stowed away and I think a singlet and sarong have become my uniform for the next while. Sailing in the tropics!

My breakfasts now have become cereal rather than porridge (still with my extra large helping of cream, dried fruit and honey!).
The wind peaked at 30knots last night so life's still a little bouncy out here as we're sailing upwind. It's a little frustrating every time something goes flying across the cabin or when I discover that something else has somehow become wet and salty, but it only takes a glance at the log ticking away at the miles to keep me more than happy. Only a little over 1200nm till the
equator!

I was talking to my brother Tom who's spent the weekend tramping with some friends and it made me realize how much I'd love to stretch my own legs with a long walk right now. I hadn't realized how much I miss being able to take a walk or jog up the beach. The stretches and few exercises I do most days just aren't the same. It's funny how I never even thought to appreciate something like being able to go for a walk until now when I can't. Made me think of all you lucky people back on land. Hope you're all making the most of your Sunday afternoons to take nice long walks!

Jesse
Posted by Jessica Watson at 5:14 PM 108 comments
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Trade Wind Sailing

Really loving the way Ella's been chewing away the miles over the last few days. With the wind sitting on 20-25knots from the south east its good trade wind sailing, even if the sun hasn't been doing too much of that shining business lately.
We're also really starting to make some good progress north. The GPS readout now puts our latitude well into the teens.
The temperature is just starting to get a little warm in the cabin, but with so much water over the deck, having the hatches open is completely out of the question. But I'm sure this is nothing compared to how warm it will get over the over the next few weeks!
With a bit of a headache, plenty of sea room and Ella's Pink Lady not needing much attention from me today, I pretty much just spent the day wedged into a comfy position working away at a book and staying dry. Apart from the odd flying fish and bird there's not really been a lot of wild life around lately and still no luck catching any fish. Then again we have just passed over the Tongan Trench one of the deepest places on earth. I'm not much of a fisherman but maybe it hasn't exactly been the greatest place to catch fish? I'll just have to keep trying!The overcast skies have been making for some dark nights out here.
The sky and sea are completely black with no way of telling them apart. It's completely pot luck whether or not I get a face full of spray when I stick my head out above the dodger for a look around. But even if I do get un-lucky and cop a wave, I can't say it really bothers me. Normally I'll just laugh or squeal, even if I'm half asleep!
So it's all going well and at this pace, we'll be passing Samoa in the next few days and from there it really is a clear run to the equator.

Jesse
Posted by Jessica Watson at 8:22 PM 294 comments


Friday, November 6, 2009
A Picture Blog!



Pic: Me and Ella's Pink Lady on another overcast day


Pic: Looking out into the cockpit at sunset



Pic: Ella's Pink Lady getting along nicely with the sun setting and the moon rising
Posted by Jessica Watson at 10:58 PM 264 comments
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wet, Bouncy and Cupcakes!

With a good bouncy sea and water going everywhere today everything's starting to feel pretty salty. Every time I come in from being on deck I seem to bring a lot of water with me. Also, despite all the effort we put into tracking them down before leaving, a few small leaks have made themselves known. The leaks aren't at all dangerous, just aren't much of a help in the war against salt and damp. So I've been playing around with a tube of sealer and (fingers crossed), looks like I might have put a stop to some of them!

We passed close to another boat this morning but couldn't see him through some rain.

I pulled some sail in and out as the wind dropped off, then came back and right now we're doing a nice 6knots with 20knots of wind. Have passed 2000 miles today and my best guess is around 16 days to the equator, but it could be anything as it is all weather dependant over the next few weeks.

This afternoon I decided it was time to have a bit of fun in the galley. I've been making chocolate cupcakes! It's been quite an adventure really with ingredients and mixture going everywhere, as Ella's Pink Lady bounces along. Life would be so much easier with a third arm but I got there in the end with all the mixture, less the stuff all over my face! (Maybe I should consider a career as a juggler when I get home?). Then divided it out into the paper patty pans. Then the fun part, icing and decorating!

They are all cooked now and they smell very good. Better go now and try them out. But I've attached a pic of the cupcakes below for you all to see!

Jesse


Pic: Jessica's Chocolate Cupcakes!
Posted by Jessica Watson at 4:28 PM 335 comments
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Rest, Relaxing and Reading

After some pretty interrupted sleep lately, this morning my head felt a lot like it was full of cotton wool. So I've pretty much spent most of the day in my bunk reading and dozing, popping my head out the companionway to keep a look out and to tweak the sails. All the R&R today has left me feeling a lot better, so I'm full of energy again this evening, playing music and sitting up on deck watching all the shades of grey turn to pink and orange.
No sunshine at all today so we're a bit down on power but progress has been reasonable. We've had a pretty consistent of south easterly so Ella's Pink Lady has been slipping along nicely under full sail. A few people have been commenting on how it must be nice to have other yachts around every once and a while but I can't say I really feel like that. Sure it was nice to chat to them over the radio, to find out where they'd come from and where they are heading to, but I can only really be comfortable when Ella's Pink Lady and I have the ocean completely to ourselves. Every time a bit of land pops up on the chart it weighs on my mind and almost feels a little claustrophobic!
The forecast is for more of the same weather for the next few days. Then as we keep heading north we should start seeing some tropical squalls. I'm starting to see more and more flying fish jump out of the water and am really starting to tick off the miles till reaching the equator.
That's it for today because my tummy is telling me that it's time to go cook up something up for dinner. I'm thinking tacos (or maybe I should call them nachos, as they are a bit crushed up!) with freeze dried mince, tinned tomato and tinned capsicum.

Jesse
Posted by Jessica Watson at 6:29 PM 211 comments







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