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June 11, 1999
Hawaii to Tarawa Voyage, Update #40
Day 39. Friday 11 June 1999 0248 GMT
Wind ENE 3-4. Heading 210M.
Latitude: 07deg 58.767N
Longitude: 175deg 29.294W
At the time of writing the wind has dropped considerably and the ocean become a procession of gentle 8ft rollers meandering in the general direction of the west. The clouds are fairly few and far between, so its very hot. But for today at least it's a small price to pay for relative comfort. I'm having a lazy day to recoup from the last week's hammering. Pedaling for an hour, making tea, staring blankly into space for a while, then pedaling some more. It's probably not a bad thing the sleeping compartment is like an oven otherwise I might not have surfaced at all today in this soporific heat.
Freshly washed towels and shorts hang like bunting from the radar antennas and side stays giving the outside of the boat the look of a used car lot. I've been using some of the extra power stored in the batteries over the past few days to make fresh water for washing. Using one of the kayak dry bags hung from the wind generator mast to first soak the dirty laundry in soap and water, I then transfer each item to the front deck for scrubbing and rinsing. None of the clothes ever come out looking any cleaner, but they smell better than when they started and at least some of the salt and sweat will have been drained out at some point in the process. I cannot tell you how wonderful it felt last night to be able to towel myself off after my habitual pre-sleep rinse down with a 'clean' towel that wasn't sodden and stinking from 3 week's use. The smallest things that wouldn't even register on land, become the greatest luxuries on the ocean.
Jason Lewis,
The Moksha motor
Posted on June 11, 1999 4:28 AM