Life at Sea

This essay is about what it feels like to be at sea, the experience. If you are looking for information about how to live a calm, normal life, I suggest you skip this entry immediately. First of all, you can't leave anything out when you are at sea. You always have to put it away. Whatever it is, it will slide in the rocking of the boat. That was background information, now for the real stuff.

The waves slosh up against the boat. As long as you are at sea, you hear slosh, slosh, slosh. Also, you tend to develop the instinct to always hold on. You end up gripping every bar, handle, and corner. If you don't hold on, you will fall and hurt yourself. In a small space, there are lots of knobs, corners, and other things that are hard and that would hurt, especially on an aluminum boat.

The rolling of the swells helps lullaby you to sleep. It rocks you back and forth. That is why small berths are best. There is not much space to roll.

This is Porter and me reading in our bunks at night.

To go on deck, you always have to clip in, which means putting a harness on and being attached by a cord to the boat.

Entertainment is also something to mention. You can't run around.  We have few board games; therefore, imagination is the key. Live inside the brain. Be a warrior, animal or fisherman. Be anything you like. But imagination is not the only entertainment. Watches are fun. Steering, trimming sails, and watching for boats is a way to pass the time. A watch is where one person looks out for boats. Making sure the boat is okay and sometimes steering.

This is me playing music on the iPod for everyone to listen to

Aunt Mary and Porter playing backgammon on a really calm day

In this picture, I am playing with a bunch of ships and planes that I made out of clothespins.

Also, you can't just go to the grocery store and buy what you need. What you have is all you have out in the ocean. The only exception is fishing. Fish are the only thing you can get that is not on board already. Experiences are different out in the middle of the ocean.

Overall, I really like sailing on passages. It is a great way to learn about sailing and the world at sea. Also, we were a team on this passage. We made it across together. Not one of us did it alone, and we didn’t just cross the Atlantic, we sailed ourselves across the Atlantic. And that is really cool. –Jack Rabbit