Day 52: Short and sweet
The day started early. 3 am. Could not get back to sleep. Grrr.
Grabbed the kindle and thought that I would get the sleep to come. It usually did.
An hour later, I was still reading.
Ok, let’s do some paddling.
Open the hatch, and it’s all dark. The moon is hidden by the clouds.
Another squall is about to pass overhead. The first raindrops are starting to fall. I’ll start after the squall.
I close the hatch and carry on reading. Two hours later, the alarm goes for the shore team chat. Still raining. After the check-in with the world I noticed the sun had come up behind the clouds, but the rain had stopped. I pull on a pair of board shorts and my blue hooded paddling top and hit the first session of the day.
I crank up a 3 hour IBIZA chillout mix and get into the groove. 10 minutes later, another squall and rain. Funny how it can feel chilly, yet it’s still 28°, and the waves splashing over the side feels warm.
Today was just rain squall, one after the other. It pretty much goes like this.
The wind gains in strength, followed by a wave of rain. The rain falls hard and has a flattening effect on the sea. The squall passes overhead, and the wind dies down to nothing.
The harder it rains, the lighter the wind under the squall. With less rain, the wind seems to be stronger.
My paddling clothes tried to jump over the side when I took them off. I took that as a sign that perhaps they needed a wash to keep them from doing anything rash. After washing them, it’s become challenging to dry them with all the rain squalls. I had to hang them up inside above my bunk. Hope they dry by morning.
My solar panels are of such excellent quality that without even seeing any direct sunlight today, they charged the battery to full by 1 pm, and I was able to make plenty of water to do the laundry after that.
It’s pretty humid in the cabin now with the wet clothes trying to dry, but I could not wait for another second to wash my blue top. It was pretty nasty after almost 10 days without even a rinse.
I started listening to Eric Idle “Always look on the bright side of life” – A Sortabiography. It’s perhaps the best audiobook so far. Listen to this and John Cleese in tandem give an incredible insight into their lives growing up in that era. So very different from the buttercups of today.
I have another milestone to celebrate soon. Passing the 1000km to go mark. About 10 days, and I am eyeing the 19th as a good day to arrive.
