Day 12 - Surfing the Waves

Today I woke up to see the sunrise after the morning watch had just ended. The sea has this particular golden pattern and color in the morning and I could just sit there for hours and watch the patterns of the waves dance around and play with the liquid golden sunlight. It's mesmerizing, especially with music underneath.

Luckily we still have lots and lots of leftovers from yesterday's feast, the order of operations is simple in the morning. Get the fishing lines out because the chances of catching something are best in the early morning, and then get some food. Everything is always done with headphones on, some good music playing, and a big grin of satisfaction on my face. Today breakfast is a bit of milk rice from the day before. It's super tasty because it's cold from the fridge and with fresh banana and some canned peaches, it all adds up to the best breakfast I could imagine. Especially with this view watching the waves and listening to some Austin Wintory.

The waves are already quite high, even in the morning and they pick up more and more height and speed as the day progresses. Up to three meters with 25 knots of wind. Our harshest conditions yet. But the repaired sail holds like a champ. The autopilot doesn't like these conditions too much though, but Christian on the other hand does. He relieves the autopilot of his duty for some time, steering the boat himself. Our new human autopilot at work is fun to watch.

"It's about surfing up and down the waves" he says, with a mad, satisfied grin on his face, while holding the helm and steering us down another wave. 10 knots!

Watching him makes me smile too, and he insists that I try to steer for some time too. "Look, it's fun, don't you want to try?" he prods. I think that steering in these conditions is hard and you probably rather want the autopilot but he says it's actually better to steer by hand and that nothing really can happen. Steering by hand is even easier and more friendly to the boat because the human is more accurate than our trusty ol pneumatic cylinder. And so a short while later I steer the boat too. Closely watching the compass, the horizon, the wind and the waves to not do something wrong. The pull of the waves on the rudder, and the speed you pick up when surfing down a wave are addicting.

At first I find it terribly difficult, hard work, where you need to concentrate, but once you get the feel for it it becomes a tremendous source of joy and I understand Christian. The feeling you get when you successfully align with a wave and feel how it pushes the whole boat, and how your consciousness encompasses the whole boat and how it starts to feel like an extension of you... that is something special. It's the same feeling you get when wave surfing smaller waves on the shore. This entire boat is a gigantic wind assisted surf board and that thought and feeling is simply extreme fun.

Eventually we put the autopilot back on though, because even if fun, it takes concentration to do this continuously. And not a moment too soon, because a fish bites not much after. Another Mahi Mahi, kind of like the only thing we ever catch. I love the scintillating colors of these fish, especially when they are still alive in the water. They have this surreal blue glow, shimmering through the surface. Once out of the water this shine shifts into a shimmering gold, still beautiful but not quite as alive anymore.

Today's one is quite big. A beautiful fish.

I prepare four nice filets from it, the only real task I'll be doing besides steering today, then go back to read a little more on my Kindle. By now fileting the fish is something that I not only enjoy doing I also get quite good at it. Taking apart the fish skillfully, even while the waves make the whole boat roll up and down like there's no tomorrow.

Today my music was playing on the speakers all the time after breakfast, so we listen to some game soundtracks from the likes of Abzu and Journey, which somehow fit our situation quite nicely. Its like play out here. Relaxed, fun, but sometimes challenging experiences. Every day. Mixed with great food and the wide wide ocean.

I make myself some Muesli for lunch, and also a slice of Christians bread with jamon and cheese. But the highlights of the day are Rebecca making a giant lemon cake, and later at night us preparing Sushi from the freshly caught fish.

Eating Sushi in copious amounts on the boat, out in the middle of the ocean, the literal middle of nowhere, thousands of kilometers away from the next city feels surreal. And the quality is amazing, because everything is made fresh, right here, by my own hands and the fish was caught just this day. We have the last bit of pumpkin soup, some bread, some cake and then lots of Sushi. After which I go to bed, extremely tired and filled with food. Another day of this adventure is drawing over and we a bit closer to our goal.

Probably five or six more days and we are there, and it feels like we could be sailing forever like this. Though our fresh water tank is empty since today. We just have the bottles for drinking water left (lots of those though) and from now on washing and showering will only happen with salty water from the sea. Somehow, I like the thought. It's fitting the spirit of adventure.