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4/12/2006 6:16:00 AM
953 miles to Hiva Oa
150 miles to the equator
Day 14 of 25 - A Niki report in her usual free for
DAY 14 of 25 - Niki writes from her point of view and what the kids are up to all day.
Hallo everybody,
for a change here is your First Mate writing you. Robert is catching up with his daily reports to my monthly letters (although that?s a bit of a challenge after 10 years) and now he is even more appreciative of the time and effort of doing it. Since some of you asked whether I will write at all anymore and wanted to have a bit more detail on the boys situation I thought it might be a good day to take over the keyboard. For those you don?t like my long reports and usually don?t read to the end, don?t worry Robert will be back on tomorrow. Earlier when writing the German one during my 8-11pm watch I had a hard time since we were heeling quite a bit to starboard, but now the winds have totally died down and we are motoring, always something new that keeps it interesting, I guess. Honestly I don?t want to complain because we had a perfect passage so far and are confident that we will continue this way. The seasickness of the first few days, the rolling around for another few and then the extreme heeling for a day are all ordinary things (us humans always have to have something to complain about) and by all means no critical situations. As with many uncomfortable things in live I am sure we will forget these very quickly and only keep the good ones in our memories.
I am totally amazed how well I am doing on this trip. I think I prepared myself the months and weeks prior mentally so well that I now am surprised how quickly time passes, the daily life takes it?s normal path and I feel content and safe on Lawur. She really is a perfect boat for us, does super well in any kind of sailing position and definitely is our home ? cozy and practical. It certainly helped to have lived on her for 2 years prior so that we now know where everything is and are used to her, but you never know how this will all come into play on the big, wide ocean... By the way there is one thing I do to keep myself happy and content ? my little world right now exists literally all the way to the horizon and my life is within view right now. I am primarily on Lawur live each day and when I have to come out on deck to help Robert on a sail change or something else, maybe to get a breath of fresh air ? my world ends as far as my eyes can see ? and I don?t want or need to see further than that, because than I might get the jitters.... Call it naiv, shying away or whatever, but it helps me to keep my daily routine balanced and healthy, at the end I will have a ?look? at the grand picture... well I will be in for a view! I have to say that Robert is a wonderful captain and very much taking care of the well being of us all. He is not taking the boat and his ability to drive her close to his/her limits and is very careful with his decisions, comfort and safety come first before any extreme sailing situations, that might get us to the finish a bit slower but definitely more happy.
So lets talk about the boys, many of you had wanted to know how they are and what the heck they do all day tied down to such small quarters. They both are doing fantastic and they are my heroes in this trip. They both never were big wrestlers or had many sibling fights but I sure was concerned that the limited space, lack of exercise and contact with the other cruisers (we were so busy the weeks before we left) will bring a certain extend of friction. We are now out for 14 days and I have to say they have been acting wonderful ? knock on wood. You certainly notice that they have a need to move around and I catch them wrestling for fun on the couch or bed ? once in a while they will hurt each other or get into an argument but they usually don? t last too long since they won? t get any sympathy from us. Benjamin will have his moments climbing around or swinging from the poles (the ones to hold on to) but they are definitely proving that they can do without it for a a while and don?t need too many distractions ? let?s see how well we do in week three.... The first couple of days they did not feel too well, especially Sebastian, and they slouched out a lot, napped, were talking with each other or just letting their thoughts run, which isn?t such a bad idea. When I wanted to encourage them today to find something to play while they were just hanging out on the couch Sebastian said to me ?But Mama, I like to just lay here, do nothing and think about different things? ? well what can I say, not a bad exercise for life (and me) I think, because one doesn?t always have to be busy every minute in its life. In the beginning Sebastian also had a hard time reading and therefore finally took an interest in listening to tapes ? Harry Potter 1 (so far he wanted nothing to do with it) ? he was done listening in 4 days! Benjamin is also trying but doesn?t have the concentration for it yet. Oops I forgot I am on watch (2-5am) and I have to check that everything is alright ? that we are still on course, check the sails and boat, take a peek on the radar = everything ok, let?s go on. Benjamin is also one who can entertain himself very well, as long as he is not obsessed with his GameBoy, he doesn?t need a whole lot to get his imagination going. I have to admit that in the beginning they both played a lot of GameBoy, it seemed that they weren?t too seasick for that and we both weren?t feeling up to doing much with them then. On day 6 we finally started school as you all could read and that takes a big chunk out of the day. We had a few days in-between when it was too rolly and I spared them and me but at least we felt good enough to do an art project then or play board games. I know Robert had already written you once our daily schedule but I thought I?ll do one more according to their needs (this is upon requests from many of you and you know how much I like details... ;o)
They both get up between 7.30 and 8 and are allowed to play ½ hour game boy since Robert is on the cruisers net on the HAM radio at that time and it has to be quiet for him to understand anything. I will crawl out of bed between 8.15 and 8.30 (I do the 2-5 shift and go back to bed for a good snooze and I am not one who likes to get up anyways). Then we?ll have breakfast, the boys are in charge of doing the dishes while I get school ready. On a good day when things are going according to plan we will start between 9 and 9.30. Sometimes I have to help Robert with sail adjustments since often the wind changes in the morning and he tries to get everything ready before he goes down for his nap around 10, so that I have less to deal with. Then we start our school day which will take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours, in-between we?ll have a snack and before I know it is noon again. Sebastian does his math by himself first (takes him about 45 minutes) while I do phonics and reading with Benjamin. After I go through a lesson plan with Sebastian (history, science, mythology, geography, phonics, reading ...) while Benjamin does his math and listens in on our lesson especially in mythology and science. After lunch I will putter around a bit, write e-mail, chat with Robert while the boys read, play with Matey, listen to music, etc. I will go down for a nap from about 2 to 3.30 which the boys are allowed to play another hour of GameBoy while Robert does some routing, e-mail, sail checks,... The three of them will also do their logbook project ? writing down all the details from the day prior (date, average wind, average speed, longitude and latitude and daily mileage) on a small paper strip to form a chain, lets see how long it?ll get. Later on I will glue the stripes down and keep it as a memory for them, I am sure it?ll be fun to look at it a few years from now. Well, when I get up from my beauty sleep it is almost time for our family happy hour, where we either play a game, watch a movie (in two parts usually) which we have done when it was so rolly since nothing was staying on the table. Today we plotted our passage on a big South Pacific paper chart and looked up all the islands we are planning to see and get familiar with it. At 6pm Robert is on the radio again with the 3 other boats and even though we are now spread further apart, but still within a days reach, it is nice to exchange coordinates, check on each others life, the weather situation and help each other out if needed. In the meantime the boys do their daily art project ? we are making a picture every day with a different material and idea ? again at the end I will make a book out of it as a memory and right now it is a good time filler. Depending on the menu plan I will either help them with it or start preparing the meal. If there is time left until dinner they will play some and their imagination is starting to kick back in. Today for example they used some little matchbox cars to launch off the table and due to the heeling of the boat they landed on the other side on the couch where they built a tunnel out of pillows ? voila, that kept them busy for at least 1 hour! Robert and I try to take 20 minutes for ourselves, sitting up on deck watching the sunset, trying to avoid any kind of sail or trip talk ? just time for us. Well and that wraps up the day and it is time for bed, the three of them will go to bed in the aft cabin, reading, listening to music or chatting ? and I start my first night shift and by the way I should go and check on everything again ? everything ?roger?, we have such nice calm seas tonight, hardly any swell, what a relief! So, that concludes a day for us and pretty much repeats itself the next day ? which is rather unusual for us, but we are doing well with it and our shifts are perfectly scheduled so that we both get time to take a nap during the right time of the day, keeping us happy and functioning.
Our latest family member Matey is also a great distraction and playmate for the boys and us. She truly is a wonderful boat cat, totally easy going in every sailing position, not noise sensitive at all and loves being with us during our shifts (like now curled up with me at the nav station) or snuggles up with the boys in their bed. She?s got her crazy hour anywhere between 10 and midnight where she will run around wild, chasing everything ? a left over peace of paper on the floor, a straw that fell, her little cotton balls ? nothing is safe from her, not even my legs... She now knows to hang around me when I make meals since I have given her a chicken and fish treat the last few days. The 3 boys still do all the chores, the little ones make sure she has fresh water and food and Robert takes care of the litter box. Soon he and her are in for another bath and trimming the nails, always a bit of a procedure. I am very happy we have her and found my cat affection, at least with her. I promise as soon as we find the first good internet connection to put a photo album on the web, we?ve got a few cute ones by now.
Ok, time to find an end ? I hope you enjoyed hearing and reading from me for a change and look forward to your replies and news from your end. I don?t? think we have ever gotten that much e-mail, so please don?t be upset if we don?t write back to each one of yours or if it takes us some time, but it is really time consuming and as you can see our days are pretty filled so writing e-mail is our watch activity as well as reading. But please keep them coming and continue sailing with us across the Pacific.
Ey, Ey captain ? yours the first mate Niki
PS Today?s menu ? French toast, ham and brie sandwich, tuna morney left over for Robert and I and veggie noodles for the boys.
TheSchmids Family Sailing on Lawur
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TheSchmids Family Sailing on Lawur
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