Darold has taken the majority of the night watch.\u00a0 Again.\u00a0 I wake up to find that the boat\u2019s motion is less severe, the sound of the howling wind is nearly gone and it seems like the worst is over.\u00a0 I come up into the cockpit and Darold pats me on the shoulder and says, \u201cPapagayos all gone!\u201d \u00a0He is playing music in the cockpit and puts on \u201cSouthern Cross\u201d by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young then says to me, \u201cYou can appreciate this song more now.\u201d\u00a0 Maybe it was the lack of sleep, maybe it was the relief of this bad weather being over, but I begin to cry.\u00a0 Keep in mind \u2013 I\u2019m not a crier.\u00a0 I cry once a year when watching \u201cFred Claus\u201d during the scene where they sing Silent Night and run to the snow globe (don\u2019t judge me.) I cry at funerals.\u00a0 That\u2019s pretty much it.\u00a0\u00a0 Forget that the song is about sailing in a different hemisphere and has to do with looking for the right woman \u2013 I connect with it.\u00a0 I feel<\/i> it.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, I have been around the world too.\u00a0 I think about how many times I have fallen.\u00a0 I will survive being tested.<\/p>\n
The rest of the day is filled (for me) with relief and recovery.\u00a0 \u00a0Around mid-day we see another sailboat on our AIS.\u00a0 Another sailboat!\u00a0 All the other ships we pass are cargo ships, tankers and the occasional fishing boat.\u00a0 We are going to be within less than a half mile from each other, two ships passing in the day.\u00a0 Amazing that we have a whole ocean and two sailboats can pass so close to each other.\u00a0 We hail the boat on the radio and swap stories.\u00a0 He is three weeks out of Panama and has had no wind.\u00a0 We tell him that his fortune may be about to change\u2026<\/p>\n
We pass the rest of the day in exhausted recovery. \u00a0Just when you think you\u2019re safe\u2026oh the weather, she has more in store for you.\u00a0 You see, on land you think about the weather as it might interfere with your plans.\u00a0 Do I take an umbrella to work?\u00a0 Can I wear my suede shoes?\u00a0 At sea, you think about weather as it might interfere with your life.<\/i>\u00a0 We make fun of the weatherman because he (or she) is so often wrong.\u00a0 In my book, the meteorologist\u00a0 is\u00a0 to be revered.\u00a0 Part scientist, part artist .\u00a0 Continually struggling to understand something that defies understanding.<\/p>\n