Day 17
9pm local, 03:00 UTC
pos 1odegS, 127deg40W
distance to Fatu-Hiva 640 miles
The sea has mellowed over the past 3 days, also no doubt this is because with the spinnaker we can run with the swell. As predicted by Trevor there is a solid 12 ft deep ocean ground swell running from the North, but its swell period is too long to affect us on shimmi. Nothing special happened today, except for the fact that my exema is now so bad that I can barely function. It has spread to most of my arms, armpits, chest, stomach and back of my legs, the skin is raw and very inflamed, the skin has become swollen, leathery and lost pigmentation. My the bags under my eyes are swollen, i look 85 years old, like i pressed the wrong button on the fucken time machine. I am still taking 20mg of cortisone per day but it feels like it brings no relief. Basically it feels like my skin has turned into burning cardboard wrapped in packing tape. Such a bummer, it quite literally drives me insane (and turns me into a humorless dick head). The only thing that works for a bit of relief is laying on my back with ice packs on the worst areas. Apart from that I just lie around growling, groaning, moaning and snarling. I am not sure where this is going to end as every day it spreads further, disfiguring a new piece of skin. Last night i duct taped socks over my hands so i cant scratch myself when i sleep. Anyway, that's my bitch for the day, actually it feels good to get that off my chest. Chantal has tried everything to help me but i am like a sick lion and the other animals are wary.
This morning Chonny made a yummy hot veggie soup/broth with rice, Andy cooked up a great fillet and potato dinner, we must be getting to the end of our frozen fillet supplies. We cut a whole fillet into 6 or 7 small portions each frozen separately, its another long distance cruise winner. Apart from a small veggie shop in the Galapagos it has now been 5 weeks since we were in a grocery store!
The wind seems more east nowadays and it is now pushing us south of our rhumb line... if it continues like this we made need to gibe at some stage otherwise we will miss Fatu-Hiva to the south, and that AINT GONNA HAPPEN.
Yep, I wish I could go see a dermatologist right now and just spend a few days lying in a cool room on some clean sheets with a bowl of fresh fruit at my elbow. Variations of the last part of this wish is of course shared by all on board. In Josh's dream this cool room is next to the worlds biggest toy shop. Indie's room is a massive empty space with a non skid floor, sand pit and padded walls. Chantal's room will have an unlimited use cell phone and Andy's room will be anywhere in Las Vegas. Instead we are going to hike up the valley of the Bay of Virgins which opens onto a magnificent mountainous circular valley, the remnants of an ancient crater. From there the path will take us to a lovely waterfall with a marvelous bath. In this bath my skin will find solace. I will return a new man. We will barbecue the yellow fin tuna which we caught on the way in and we will wake early the next morning to the sound of 6 ft cylinders gurgling and spitting their way down the reef.
There is always another day!
Bonjour
G