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August 9, 2000
Solomons to Australia voyage - Update #22
Lat/Long as of 14.30 hrs local time
14 degs 14. 56’ S
148 degs 54. 74’E
Day 23. Wind SE 5-10 knots. Heading 172M
Hard thumping today. Earlier on the wind shifted further around to the South east so there’s been the added knee strain of driving Moksha diagonally up and over the waves as opposed to just parallel to them. Our lives have been reduced to a dull but necessary schedule of pedaling, eating and sleeping, there being little time in the day (or night for that matter) for other more inspirational activities. Even April’s hair care schedule has been somewhat affected.
“I can’t arrive in Cairns looking like the Coral Sea Cowgirl with the High Seas Hair”, she moaned at me today.
“What not”, I countered. “Better High Seas Hair over Barbie Hair. No one will ever believe you just pedaled 1,000 miles if you step off the boat looking like a Trophy Wife”. The dispute continues unresolved. There’s an easy resolution though. I’ll just confiscate the shampoo and hair curlers a couple of days before arrival.
Needless to say we’re both pretty exhausted. We’ve reduced the daytime pedaling shifts to 2 hours and the night ones to 3 hours to keep us focused on rpms. Food is also playing a key role in keeping the cranks moving. The pressure cooker serves as a communal stockpot for us to dip into at any time of the day or night to refuel. Cooking up enough fodder for a couple of days also to saves time and energy - at the moment we have a soy based chili con carne on the go that should last until tomorrow evening before going sour. The other good thing about eating a square meal at three in the morning is it tricks your mind and body into waking up, eating being a predominantly day time habit. And it makes for a blessed relief from relying on the dreaded sickly sweet sports bar things for energy between mealtimes, which, after you’ve had enough of them like we have on this voyage, start to take on the unenviable qualities of a dehydrated turd.
Click on today’s video update to find out about our new pedaling recruit.
Posted on August 9, 2000 2:48 PM