A Day Sailing the Atlantic D16 24/05/2021

Day 16 24/05/2021

We’re closing in on our first week, our day usually starts around noon depending on which Quart we had the night before. Thomas is always behind me and Patrice is always after me. When on duty from midnight to 3 am, I try to wake around 9 am to relieve Thomas who had the last quart from 6 to 9 am. Since no one is ever awake at 10 am the last quart is at least 4 hours long, which can be exhausting. Truth is, my first 6 am Quart ended at 11 am, lasting 5 hours, I’ve since hoped by relieving them, they think of relieving me, so far it’s worked. The worst Quart as you might expect is the middle one from 3 to 6 am, having to sleep whilst conscious you’ll have to wake at any moment.

No matter your Quart it concludes with sleeping until noon, in fact I’m not sure what 11 to noon looks like anymore. This is when you have to start filling your time, books, writing, ship work, anything.

The Cap warned me you come into this with expectations of learning a new skill, working out, or other, but instead you lose yourself in the cycles. Our lunch usually happens around 2:30 pm, and is often followed by a nap.

The day gets easy around 7 pm, the rest of the day is clear, we all assemble for drinks and snacks while listening to music, followed by dinner prep, dinner, and dishes. Depending on the time of your Quart you usually head to sleep immediately… every minute counts. And so the cycle restarts, days where all goes as planned that is…

Patoch is the oldest crew member, yet I sometimes see a teenager in an older man’s body. We bonded from the get go as we worked to prepare the boat for the departure, we both share a passion for music and apparently I remind him of his grandchild. He’s surprisingly up to date with modern technology, why… because he taught himself to produce electro music on his computer, incredible right. He says it’s the genre that allows him to take from all musical influences. But every now and then his age betrays him, both showing his technical short comings and wisdom. This morning he confused Spotify being disconnected to the Wifi with disconnecting his Spotify account, he is now logged off what he cherishes the most, only on his computer at least. We like our moments of solitude and silence on this ship, sometimes I can tell he wants to engage, but respects I don’t.

Much Love,

DT