Saturday, September 4, 2010, Day 3, Fiji to Vanuatu

We are now on day 3 of the passage; it is Saturday, September 4th. Both of us are reading the novel, Shantaram, which is the hottest book going in this part of the globe. Neither of us seems to be able to put our copy down. We have maintained radio contact with Moasi on a regular basis, during which Ian repeatedly asks Frank if he has caught any fish yet, Frank won't admit that he doesn't want to put the book down to go rig the fishing line. At one point I mentioned to him that it is so calm, we may as well throw a line in while the conditions are in our favor. We had just bought new gear before leaving Lautoka so it all still needed to be set up, and that is definitely a "blue" job. He finally acquiesced (probably to shut me up). As we were having this conversation I was looking out the back and noticed that our dinghy looks a bit wrinkled at the rear quarter panel on the port side. At closer inspection, it wasn't just a bit flat - it looked as deflated as a raisin. We surmised that it must have been impaled on a rock or one of the rusty pipes at the wharf in Lautoka. We'll have to break out the repair kit when we arrive in Tanna.

We have been blessed with fair winds and following seas for this entire crossing so far. And except for one little "hiccup" it has been a splendid 3-day sail. As is the case any time at sea there will be the occasional "rogue wave" - a quite large wave that is out of synch with the others. When a yacht gets hit with one it sounds like a cannon boom against the hull and the boat is generally knocked catawampus for an eerie moment or so. I was just going into the head when a rogue struck Destiny. It threw me, face first into the overhang of the outer bulkhead, smashing my face into the cabinet and causing loud crashing sounds all about me. It took a few minutes for my head to clear and then I realized I am going to have a heck of a shiner and possibly a busted nose. I feebly called for Frank to bring me a soft ice pack from the freezer. He took one look at me and said, "Oh no! You are already turning black and blue". I quickly downed 2 strong anti-inflammatory tablets and then laid down with my face covered with the ice pack for a very long time until it was frozen and numb. Then I put the pack back into the freezer to re-freeze and repeated the process. That is all I can do for it, except send up a little prayer that no damage has been done other than a bit of swelling. My eyes are blurry, but that's probably just from the shock of impact. So far the bruising is barely visible. Those icepacks are a face-saver!

In between the re-freezing of my ice pack, Frank announced that we had hooked a fish. It was a beautiful 3-foot Mahi Mahi. Nice going Captain! I think now he is happy that he put the book down for a little while.
The winds are coming back up and the seas are building, as predicted on the GRIB files. We may be in for a rough ride this afternoon and into tonight, as the waves have tracked around and are hitting more on the beam. I have a pounding headache so I think I'll go lay down for a rest.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com