Evening all,
Once again last night was one of those pristine nights. The temperature has just been wonderful, like Queensland in the winter. In the sun you could be in shorts and a tee and in the shade need a hoodie. Not nearly as cold as I would have expected even if tonight did have a slight extra chill. It properly helps that the sea temperature is 14 degrees right now. I could almost go swimming………….. Almost.
The winds have been consistently sitting around 10-15 knots occasionally jumping up to the 20-knot range and mostly from the South West to South East so I am sailing upwind at the moment. The swell has been rolling though with some large ones scattered in between but mostly sitting around the 4-metre mark. The boat has been sailing mostly above 7.5 knots which is nice to see. It has been so relaxing on board, with the boat hardly needing any attention, that I am powering through the books and catching up on lost sleep.
I have just counted how many I have read so far and it’s an astounding……. 28 books in 4 weeks. That should be a record of some type. I usually read quite a bit on the mainland. It is one of my favourite past times and one that can easily be enjoyed at sea. I just hope that I have enough books with me... My favourite types are the adventure fantasy kind, a complete escape, almost like a movie in my head. I would love recommendations from anyone on some good reading material for when I arrive back.
Aside from this the other exciting thing that has happened to me today is I am digging out a new food bag. Wahoo! Before I left 2 amazing volunteers Sue and Chris spent months looking into the protein and calorie requirements for a trip like this and developed my amazing menu. I took everything including most of the food with me from Sydney but it all needed to get organized and packed. Lyn Hewson and Harry did an amazing job in Albany of packing away all the food into week bags. Each 'Week Bag' has its own allowances of lollies, snacks and treats so that even on week 12 I should still be eating like a king. I am only eating about 3/4 of the food in each bag so there are plenty of extras to go in with my emergency rations should I take longer at sea.
On a normal day I start with either Muesli with tinned fruit or porridge on the colder mornings. Lunch is a meal replacement Arbonne protein shake which also has a greens powder added to it. This is condensed and powdered super foods to help fill the gap made from having no fresh foods. I also tend to snack on some Salada biscuits with cheese or crackers with pesto etc, to complete the lunch. For dinner, I choose one of a variety of main meals that are all freeze dried.
I only have a 2 burner Metho stove and am not equipped to be cooking meals each day, so the freeze-dried option was a way to ensure I ate a main meal at least once a day. All I need to do is add 1 cup of boiling water to the meal and let it sit for 20 minutes and dinner is served. The meals are a variety of pasta, rice and couscous dishes all high in protein and carbs. Organic and vegetarian. We have catered for at least 2 of these a day but I find I am full enough with the one.
I have so far stuck to that meal outline even in bad weather, the only difference is in the bad weather I also tend to add the Bounce protein balls and Muesli bars for an extra kick. Well the winds have just dropped out to below 10 knots so I need to duck on deck and tend to the sails.
Night all.
