Sleep 'til you're hungry, eat 'til you're tired!

11º 03.002n 120º 52.105w

Wed Apr 24 2019

Or so was the motto of one our company firefighters. He had previously worked at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport on their crash rescue crew, and noted how seldom anything very exciting happened at that airport.

However he was totally focused during our flight test activities, and had several opportunites to “be all he could be” responding to test helicopter crashes, or “hard landings” as upper management called them. The test pilot on that program was a pretty tough guy, and crawled out of several helicopters that were destroyed beyond salvage. Our job on the flight test team was to preclude that even happening, but sometimes circumstances got the best of us.

We’ve been at sea for 8 days now, with the prospect of another 11 to 15 more days before reaching our destination of Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas. Imagine coconut palms, spectacular green islands with white sandy beaches, and friendly locals. Guess we’ll see if we have overactive imaginations, but all reports so far describe something akin to paradise. We remain excited for what’s to come.

We’re standing watches 3 hours on, 6 hours off. With 3 of us, that means we go through a full rotation of the schedule every 3 days. Everyone gets their turn at the dreaded 0100-0400 slot once every 3 days. You’re generally feeling a bit fuzzy at night, better during the day. Must have something to do with biorythms.

Having constantly worked on various boat projects over the last several months, it feels like we’re not getting much done, just sitting around, keeping any eye on the radar screen, the autopilot behavior, the sea state, wind conditions, looking at the sail rigging for chafe, in the bilges and engine compartments for leaks, and everywhere else for anything out of the ordinary. Seems a bit boring and underwhelming sometimes, but right now that’s the job.

We were warned that we would find some interesting surprises over a trip of this duration, especially with regards to the constant chafing of lines against each other or sail cloth or sail bags or whatnot, and that certainly has been the case so far. Hopefully we’re adequately prepared for what’s still lurking out there.

In the meantime, little fishies continue to commit suicide on our trampolines, perhaps trying to escape the big fishies who continue to ignore the lures we troll. Reminds me of a Gary Larson cartoon.