Small Victories

A thousand miles from the nearest anything, the Pacific has a way of making even your own thoughts feel tiny. The horizon stretches out like it has no intention of ever stopping. The swells roll on with the confidence of creatures that have been doing this long before humans showed up with boats and opinions. Hazel moves with all of it. She creaks, sighs, hums, and occasionally scolds us. You learn her language fast. The good noises fade into a lullaby. The bad ones snap you awake faster than a double espresso. Out here, her voice is the only soundtrack that matters.

Peter gets a hall pass on this listening duty. His hearing is… interpretive. Not selective, just structurally unreliable. He is the man at the airport wearing his Bose headphones, listening to a program on his phone, but forgetting to turn the headphones on. He simply cranks up the phone volume until he can hear it through the ear cups. Everyone at the gate can hear it too. This happens on Hazel several times a week. We will all be that person one day. Some of us are already auditioning. To keep things safe and sane, we use wireless headsets for communication. Even with perfect hearing, shouting into the wind is a losing battle. If you already struggle with hearing, it is like trying to understand a whisper in a hurricane. The headsets keep us coordinated for sail changes, anchoring, mast climbs, and all the glamorous repairs that come with ocean life.

In the end, God is in charge and sovereign over all. Yet some days it feels like the Pacific is running the show. We have felt that bigness every day since dropping Steve off at Marina Pez Vela. Equipment breaks at the worst possible moment, which is almost always zero dark thirty. The ocean does not hand out easy days. It demands patience, creativity, and a calm brain even when your body is running on crumbs of sleep. The scale of it all can be overwhelming. And still, the smallest victories are the ones that keep you going.

Yesterday and today have been full of those wins. Hazel has had calm seas and steady winds. These will be our two longest back to back twenty four hour runs, averaging one hundred twenty nautical miles each. It may sound slow compared to cars or planes, but for Hazel, this is her version of a personal best. A small win, but a proud one.

Peter also rescued our soon to be rotten eggs by boiling them into hard boiled eggs. Now they will last for weeks and save an important food source. Small but satisfying win. As we head west northwest, the humidity has eased and the temperature has dropped a few degrees. Small but satisfying win. We launched the repaired asymmetrical spinnaker twice without drama. Small but satisfying win. And with the calmer sea state, we cooked a real meal. Cheeseburgers and fried potatoes. A very satisfying win.

The win we still desperately seek is relief from what can only be described as diaper rash for adults. Our bottoms are raw. Saltwater splashes over Hazel constantly, and dry places to sit are rare treasures. Every surface feels like a sixty grit bench seat. Wet skin plus constant sandpapering equals pain with no quick fix. Suggestions welcome. These are not the glamorous moments people imagine when they dream of crossing an ocean, but they are absolutely part of the deal.

The Pacific keeps teaching the same lesson. It will not be conquered or hurried. You take what it gives, celebrate what you can control, and keep the bow pointed toward the next horizon. Small victories add up. They carry you through the long watches and the indifferent swells.

We are still out here, still learning, still grateful for the blue water and the chance to see who we really are when it counts. More small wins ahead, I hope. Many miles already behind us.

---

If you have been following our blog, you know how much we have suffered with toilet issues on Hazel. Well, it looks like it can happen to the best of them. I wonder if NASA provided a Runnings 5 gallon bucket as a backup plan. We are available for a consultation.

Peter, his iPhone and Bose headphones. 50/50 chance he is actually listening thru his Bose headphones!!!

Sunset to a full moon light

How do these two stay afloat?

Peter doing the Lysol spray laundry to save water. Why so many towels? Peter prefers sleeping on towels versus sheets. I still am old school and use sheets.

Just sailing along!

Goodbye for now!