Equator
Oh, thank you so much for all the text messages and phone calls ! They cheer me up when everything is great and they comfort me when I have great and tough times. My Dear Reader, it doesn’t mean that I’m brave, I just believe that there’s something more important than fear. That’s all.
I’m writing to you from the Equator! Can you imagine it? Ahhhh, I’ve waited so many years to write to you from this place on Earth. Behind Tanasza’s stern 1300 Nm from Hawaii and in front of me 2200 Nm to the first stop in the New Hebrides. Crossing the line that divides the Earth into a Northern and Southern Hemisphere means something special to every sailor as it does to me, each time I cross the Equator. Or maybe when you cross it alone you should start counting all over again? Anyway I have a reason to be happy today, because I’ve spent exactly two weeks on the sea. I started the celebration by taking a shower in the morning.
I’ve got a lot of potable fresh water stocked on my boat. But as you never know how much time you will spend traveling, it’s always better to keep tight control of the potable water onboard. You normally use salt water to clean yourself. You may also need a bucket, or those more fortunate sailors have black plastic bags with a hose. You hang up the bag and the sun warms up the water due to the black color of the bag, and the lucky sailor gets a real hot (or at least warm) shower.
Sometimes a squall cloud has rain and you see the water pouring from a cloud on the horizon, you may even change course a bit to get into it. Without any further delay you soap yourself and wait. And wait. And wait. Usually the rain will never reach you. The rain dissipates. So you just stand up, thoroughly soaped, with the foam getting into your eyes and you ask yourself “WHY does it happen to me?” and “Why did it happen to me again!” That’s what happened to me today. You would think: it’s just about a bucket of salt water. But it’s not so easy! Regular bar soap doesn’t dissolve in salt water, just dishwashing liquid does, and as I’d planned to use the rain water for a shower I used bar soap… In the end I used a bucket of my precious fresh water.
Oh, thank you so much for all the text messages and phone calls ! They cheer me up when everything is great and they comfort me when I have great and tough times. My Dear Reader, it doesn’t mean that I’m brave, I just believe that there’s something more important than fear. That’s all.
I’m writing to you from the Equator! Can you imagine it? Ahhhh, I’ve waited so many years to write to you from this place on Earth. Behind Tanasza’s stern 1300 Nm from Hawaii and in front of me 2200 Nm to the first stop in the New Hebrides. Crossing the line that divides the Earth into a Northern and Southern Hemisphere means something special to every sailor as it does to me, each time I cross the Equator. Or maybe when you cross it alone you should start counting all over again? Anyway I have a reason to be happy today, because I’ve spent exactly two weeks on the sea. I started the celebration by taking a shower in the morning.
I’ve got a lot of potable fresh water stocked on my boat. But as you never know how much time you will spend traveling, it’s always better to keep tight control of the potable water onboard. You normally use salt water to clean yourself. You may also need a bucket, or those more fortunate sailors have black plastic bags with a hose. You hang up the bag and the sun warms up the water due to the black color of the bag, and the lucky sailor gets a real hot (or at least warm) shower.
Sometimes a squall cloud has rain and you see the water pouring from a cloud on the horizon, you may even change course a bit to get into it. Without any further delay you soap yourself and wait. And wait. And wait. Usually the rain will never reach you. The rain dissipates. So you just stand up, thoroughly soaped, with the foam getting into your eyes and you ask yourself “WHY does it happen to me?” and “Why did it happen to me again!” That’s what happened to me today. You would think: it’s just about a bucket of salt water. But it’s not so easy! Regular bar soap doesn’t dissolve in salt water, just dishwashing liquid does, and as I’d planned to use the rain water for a shower I used bar soap… In the end I used a bucket of my precious fresh water.