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November 5, 1998
San Francisco to Hawaii, Second Attempt. Update #45
45. Date: Thu, 5 Nov 98 04:15:22 GMT
Latitude: 24 degrees 14.891 minutes North
Longitude: 144 degrees 14.184 minutes West
Wind NE, Force 4
Heading 225 degrees (M)
All is fine aboard the good ship Moksaha. Little change to report -progress south as well as west looking good. Wisdom tooth now fine- Yippee!! Back to decadent life of Scotch and M&M's at last!
Almost all photos and film footage taken during a crossing like this are shot either from inside or outside the boat. However, there are only so many angles you can shoot your partner pedaling from before the story gets old (and neither of us are getting any more beautiful as the trip progresses which doesn't help either). So very occasionally -like today- an excursion is planed to film Moksha from an objective perspective 20-30 yards away by one of us tethered on the end of a rope. It must be confessed at this point that there's more to it than just filming. It's an excuse to expand our tiny universe by an unimaginable degree -if only for 15 minutes; to explore the neighborhood a little as it were. In short -get a kick!
On the Atlantic crossing we had our trusty green reptile 'Derek the Dragon' -a blow-up child's rubber-ring bought for $2 before leaving Portugal -as first cam grip and buoyancy aid. To raise much needed funds on in arrival in US however, our prehistoric friend was auctioned into slavery for $50 at a fund raiser in Ft. Lauderdale. Technology has caught up with us since than, and today I find myself sporting a Thermarest tied around the belly and a 'raft' adorned with Sesame Street animals to keep the cam from getting drenched by one of the larger waves (the sea being quite rough). Shortly after embarking on the perilous mission (the theme tune to "Where Eagles Dare" playing at full blast in my head of course!) the Sesame Street raft sprung a leak and had to be cut lose. Then it was a question of swimming as far away from the boat as my survival leash would allow so Steve- at the given signal -could pedal past me as if en route to Hawaii. We get the fatigue, and it'll be great for the documentary. But there's something very un-natural about seeing the only means of survival you have slowly heading away from you and I was very relieved to scramble back on board afterwards.
Once again I am reminded how fragile the human body is -especially out hear in the domain of fins and wings -not legs! Reminded me how much I take for granted this tiny wooden box called a boat without which we'd both be very dead very quickly! Dry land beckons all the more strongly...
Lewis & Smith,
The Moksha crew
Posted on November 5, 1998 6:44 PM