Crew Life on Cosmos

August 6, 2001

 "Hey Don, it's 0100." The Captain of Cosmos awakens me. It is time for me to be on watch, but my alarm didn't go off. I get up, brush my teeth, put on long pants, shirt, heavy foul weather jacket, safety harness, grab my personal strobe light and rigging knife and relieve the Captain at about 0115. The wind has eased and backed more toward the East. Cosmos is ghosting along at about five knots. The sky is completely overcast and looks like rain is a possibility.

There is not a lot to do on watch, as long as the autopilot keeps working, except scan the complete horizon about every 15 minutes to make sure that we don't collide with another vessel. We have seen two other vessels in the last six days. The watch also needs to check on sail trim and be aware of changing wind and sea conditions. The Captain has made it clear that he would rather be awakened before it gets to be a crisis situation. I get off watch at 0400. I have time for a few more hours sleep.

I get up about 0730 and have a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee. It has warmed up to 72 degrees F. Here at five degrees S. Latitude we need a jacket. The heat has definitely not been a problem so far. Today is George's day to cook. We take turns and each of us gets to plan the meals and cook as well as stand normal watches every third day. I like this system because it gives each of us an equal say in what we will eat.

I finish reading "The Poisonwood Bible" before going back on watch at 1100. This is my fourth book since Panama. There is a nice assortment of books on Cosmos. The Captain is checking over the Abandon Ship Bag. He wants to see if the GPS for the EPIRB can be used as the ships GPS. It turns out that the data/power cable has a different plug and has been modified to connect only to the EPIRB and cannot be connected to the ships GPS or 12Volts. He installs batteries in the unit and checks to see that it is operational. The unit is put back in the bag with extra flares, a VHF handheld radio, and other items that would come in handy if we had to abandon Cosmos. He also assigned George and me other tasks in case we have to get in the life raft. George will handle the life raft. I will grab the EPIRB from its mount in the cockpit. Put the Iridium phone in a ZipLok bag and bring it along. Other items will include one-gallon plastic bottles of water, food, and anything else that time permits. We don't expect to have to go through this but it is good policy to let everyone know what to do ahead of time.

Lunch today is vegetable soup and crackers. The warm soup hits the spot. I am off watch at 1500. I spend a few hours reading and watching for whales. The boat and crew are working as a team. We are about one third of the way to the Marquesas. At this rate a 16-20 day passage is possible. Dinner is ham, macaroni and cheese, and peaches for dessert.

Back on watch at 2200. All too soon, another day has passed.

All my previous offshore passages have been on mono hull sailboats and I was not sure what to expect this trip. I have the cabin forward of the Saloon. It has berths and storage for two people, however, since John left in the Galapagos, I have slowly expanded to use the whole area. Boat motion is different. There is not much heeling, but I think that the other motions are less predictable. The noise from the wave action between the hulls takes some time to get used to. It seems to have taken me about twice as long to get my sea legs. It is nice not to have the heeling, but you still need 1-2 hands for the boat. It is also nice to have refrigeration, a large galley, navigation area, saloon and plenty of fresh water.