11 Days in the Ocean: Electrical Problems and a Yachtsman of the Year Award Win

11 Days in the Ocean: Electrical Problems and a Yachtsman of the Year Award Win Lady Mary has already whistled through one fifth of the Polynesia–Vladivostok route. Contrary to our rosy dreams of a following wind, we are in fact sailing across the trade winds, which means that so much seawater has already poured through the open hatches that you stop loving salt water. So the hatches are mostly closed. Down below, it is either a sweatbox or a salt-water shower that leaves the bedding and settees permanently damp. On the bright side, we are managing to maintain a good speed, and if we do not get becalmed, we should reach the southern tip of Japan in a month. ... But of course we’ll get becalmed )). There has never yet been a time when we crossed the equatorial zone without hitting a calm. The other day, some dolphins dropped by: grey and very compact. They circled around and then bounded away into the distant ocean. For a couple of days now, a booby has been circling us, sometimes grey, sometimes a very smart white. The Cook Islands and the various Kiribati islands are not far away. Grey birds with almost swallow-like tails have flown in from there too. And dead ahead loom the islands of the Phoenix group, which also belong to Kiribati. Of the group’s seven or so atolls, only one is inhabited, and I am trying to talk the crew into approaching an uninhabited one to see what is what. The captain says it is possible to anchor and land at only one of the islands; the others are unsuitable. But our young sailor has declared that she wants to carry on non-stop so we can get there sooner. So there will be no landing operation like the one at Suvorov Atoll. The Yachtsman of the Year Award and Other Victories This year, for our long-distance sporting voyage around the world through the Southern Ocean, we—hooray!—became laureates of the national Yachtsman of the Year Award! This is a great honour and means a great deal to the entire team. We had planned to send our elder daughter Natasha to the awards ceremony. But the ceremony was cancelled because of the well-known tragic events. So we will visit the Award ourselves next year. And our films “Storm” and “Suvorov Atoll” also won at the Gran (“Edge”) Festival of Travel and Adventure Films (“Storm”) and at the Golden Compass Festival (where “Suvorov” came first and “Storm” second). Well, hooray, right? In addition, public voting for our project is now under way on the website of the Russian Geographical Society’s Crystal Compass Award. Our friends—Seryozha, Yulia and Olesya—will share the link to the voting page on our pages. We would be delighted to have your vote :). Electricity and Laptops We had thought we would make another two or three films during the passage, but the watermaker consumes enough electricity to produce 25 litres of fresh water per hour while delivering only 12. There is almost no power left for charging the laptops. Yesterday we started the engine to charge the batteries, and a plug popped out of the filter; diesel began pouring into the bilge onto a nappy slipped underneath with lightning speed (“a handy household tip”). As a result, the captain spent half of today in the bilge. Well, +32 still is not the upper limit for temperatures, so everything is fine. With no laptop work to do, everyone reads in their spare time; our young sailor and I are sewing a present for her best friend and, when the motion allows, painting in oils. The swell is about three metres, with winds around 20 knots and some hefty gusts from beneath the clouds. News from the mainland reaches us. And it inspires only one wish: that this theatre of the absurd should end as soon as possible, like a bad dream. That is what we pray for. Take care of the earth, friends. We’ll keep an eye on the ocean. Hugs to all good people. Thank you to everyone who writes us cheerful letters through the website! Special thanks to those supporting the crew’s morale through YooMoney You can find our position in real time under the Route tab. Our track from the Rockstar Iridium 360 tracker provided by MVS Telecom is displayed there. Transmitted by satellite communications from our 12th day in the ocean, coordinates: 5°12′ S, 167°57′ W.