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June 25, 1999

Hawaii to Tarawa Voyage, Update #53

Day 53. Friday 25 June 1999 0336 GMT
Wind E-ESE. Heading 180-210M.
Latitude: 03deg 14.744N
Longitude: 178deg 38.828W

The ocean is a little more animated today, but still half asleep. When the wind does veer to the ESE it is never for long and with too little enthusiasm to seriously hinder our southerly heading.

My plan is to cut far enough south to where the ITCZ counter-current flowing back east at least ceases, if not reverses, before altering my heading more towards Tarawa. I am hoping that south of 3 degrees N. - which we should cross early tomorrow - the current will change. But last night we were taken 6 miles east in 8hrs while I slept, so perhaps the ITCZ is wider at this longitude and at this time of year than originally thought.

Since seeing the 12ft shark under the boat a week or so ago, I've been a little hesitant to go over the side and scrape off barnacles. However, yesterday evening I got to thinking. They badly needed doing (its amazing how in so short a time they can grow so profusely and to such size, affecting quite dramatically the speed of the boat) and right now we needed every yard made good. Having a bunch of freeloaders hanging onto the hull was costing us quite a few miles a day. So, after weighing up the pros and cons I decided to go over the side with the following precautions in mind:

1. If I kept close to the boat, hopefully a shark would associate my body with that of the larger mass of the boat and be intimidated from attacking.

2. If I could see the 2 Dorado fish that have taken residence around the boat nearby me, then I could assume that no sharks were in the vicinity.

3. Rather than the diving knife, I would take the Stanley claw hammer with me to belt attacking sharks on the nose with.

Armed with these somewhat dubious safeguards, I leapt in with just _ hr of daylight, my mask and a Tupperware food container (to scrape with), and started furiously evicting the barnacles, checking frequently for signs of large fins or sets of sharp teeth coming towards me at high speed. I was close to finishing when I felt a presence to the right of me.

Swiveling my head I caught glimpse of a monster not 10ft away. My heart missed a beat. I was on the verge of exiting the water like a torpedo when I realized the monster was actually one of the Dorado fish come to check out my handy-work, but whose size had been amplified considerably by the lens on my mask. Another unfortunate case of experiencing the outside world as created in ones head!

With heart still pounding, I climbed back on board a few minutes later to rinse off and make dinner, feeling good for being in one piece and that this would probably be the last barnacle debacle of the voyage.

Jason Lewis,
The Moksha motor

Posted on June 25, 1999 2:14 AM