Position: 21º 15.738′ S 35º 6.438′ E
My watch keeps track of how long I sleep each night.
I have always thought this was a pretty frivolous feature for my lifestyle. It seems like the kind of thing a high power business exec would use to come to some AH HA moment about their work-life balance. My life, I thought really didn’t require that kind of metric.
Yesterday, as I was chatting with my friends on Saltbreaker, I came to the rather sudden conclusion that I am “all adventured out.” I’m making a lot of simple (inconsequential) mistakes. When I talk about wind direction, for example, I will reverse the ordinality, or I’ll read the battery voltage and add a volt when I say it aloud. These activities are so common, so core to our lives, that to consistently make mistakes in the reporting, is indicative of something greater.
In my moment of revelation, I concluded that I just want a month where I don’t have to worry about our boat being damaged in the middle of the night; where I can ask for a carrot or a slab of bacon in my native tongue; where I don’t have to weigh the choices of the day against the possibility that that critical weather window might open, three days hence; where I don’t have to, figuratively, watch money flowing into the ocean, as nature patiently erodes our home out from under us. “I need a vacation,” I announced to our friends.
Last night we had another brilliant lightning storm. This time it came with a great deal of rain. While I am supremely grateful that we were in this (much more protected anchorage), the quantity of precipitation was enough to literally sink our dinghy (which was hipped to Convivia). When your dinghy is hipped, it is attached (generally) to the masthead via a halyard. When that same dinghy sinks, it kinda takes the whole boat with it. So we were healed over about 15º this morning, because of it. But I’m ahead of myself again. Vick woke up at the standard 3am to check on our catchment. Water is precious these days, and we use our caught water to wash ourselves and our clothes. It doesn’t do to lose it. Suffice to say, I was up for hours after, dealing with leaks, wet beds, catchment, and other matters of urgency.
As I mentioned, my watch tracks my sleep. Here’s what it tells me:
Saturday 1h 31m
Sunday 3h 12m
Monday 1h 35m
Today 4h 17m
Saturday was the first night after passage. That’s the night where you imagine you will sleep like a baby, secure at anchor. Prior to that, we were at sea. I did not sleep well on this last passage.
When I told Nick and Suzy (of Saltbreaker) about my adventure burn-out and my need for a vacation, Suzy said, “Maybe you could think about what you would want from that vacation, and get some of it sooner than later.” If I’m honest, what I want is a week of goddamn sleep.
All is well.