10 October 2012
The whole world is a monotonous gray pallete around me. The
sky is overcast, a somber grayish white canvas, the water a darker shade of
steel of gentle swells. Even the wind feels gray, a mild 5-knot downwind
breeze. The horizon is a thin line within the overlapping shades of bleeeaahh.
There are no other colors in this leaden background. Even Paraluman which is
white and other boats in the distance seem to disappear into the landscape.
I’m bringing Paraluman home to Pugad, San Teodoro, Mabini,
Batangas after keeping it in Subic Bay Yacht Club for almost two months during
the habagat (southwest monsoon) season. It is a very easy trip- 78 nautical
miles downwind estimated at 14-16 hours at one straight line with only 2
important turns. In other words, it will be boring. In fact, I’m falling asleep
while writing this…
And right now, we have all the ingredients for dozing off.
50… No! More! … shades of gray around us. Repetitive lazy swells and a gentle
breeze behind that lull me to sleep. Nothing to see around us as the mainland
is hidden by the clouds. Nothing to do either. The boat’s on auto pilot. No
navigation skills required- no reefs or rocks to watch out for or islands to go
around. No music as the stereo is not working. I left my phone charger so I can’t
surf the net to save my phone battery. The sails are down because we don’t have
enough wind and the only sound is the mind-numbing hypnotic drone of the engine
and the soothing lapping of the waves on the boat. I had very little sleep last
night- slept at midnight and up at 4am.
My 2 sailing companions don’t talk. I miss my husband, my regular sailing companion. I look at my watch and realize only
5 minutes have passed. I can’t keep my eyes open but I shouldn't go to sleep.
I’m the captain of this boat and I have to watch over the safety of my
passengers and my vessel!
The only thing we really need to do is make sure there are
no boats in front of us or that we’re not in anybody’s way. But the few boats
I’ve seen are too far away for concern, just another shade of gray in the
distance….. zzzzzzz….
I’m bored to death. But I’m not complaining. I’ll take 50
shades of gray anytime vs strong winds, big waves and the cold. I’ll take
boredom over the stress, the monotony over anxiety. Thankfully, tropical storm
Nina is too far away to affect the country. More importantly, I’d rather be
doing this than being stuck in traffic in the city or working in a freezing office.
In the meantime, I can’t keep my eyes open. But hey! I’m the
captain! I’m the boss, right? You two! Watch over the boat while I sleep.
Laters, baby.
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