From a perky and happy Michelle late last week, to a very different mood over the weekend. With the finishing line at her finger tips, Michelle has gone from being adamant about arriving in Sydney to now wanting the closest piece of land. Her desire to travel south west has been challenging. This is what Michelle had to say over the weekend.
I really just want the closest piece of land right now. At the moment, I’m struggling to achieve any westing at all. It’s freaking hard, I feel like I’m stuck here. It’s been 201 days at sea now and yesterday was the first breakdown for me. Thank goodness it only happened yesterday. Everything just got the better of me.
I had to use all that I have in me to pull myself through. I put on some guided meditations whilst I was rowing and it’s as if I was being guided by the voices that I was hearing.
I also went through my checklist… I’m not in danger… I’ve got food… I’ve got water… I’m not sick… my boat is working. It was a mixture of good things and bad things I was checking off my list. Turns out my impatience was getting the better of me.
I just want to get home so much, yet the winds and currents are pushing me north and east, and Roger my weather router wants me to go south and west. On top of that, I’ve got wind chaffing on my lips that has festered and is really sore. It’s been that way for weeks now.
I’ve been going through each day feeling like I just don’t know how to get out of here. The weather is just not favourable and because I’m so impatient now to get home, I want this to be over. There’s no joy in eating anymore, I just shovel my food down so I can get all my calories in. Breakfast which used to be my favourite meal is now such a disappointment. I don’t have any cereal, no oats, no muesli, so breakfast is now 2 dried figs, 1 dried date that I put in rice and water… it’s become so unpalatable that I’ve changed it now to a banana protein shake with MCT oil.
No peanut butter or Nutella either, I’ve not had any Nutella since day 140. All up I’ve gone through 6kgs of PeanutButter and 4kgs of Nutella.
Other than that, life here on board is filled with much of the same test to my resilience… and lots of fish and wildlife as well. I’ve even figured out a way to tame the sharks that are underneath my boat.
They come around dawn and dusk, thrashing around to feed on the fish that are ever-present under my boat. There’s 4 of them and when they thrash around it’s really scary because their fins smash into the hull of my boat. It’s a frenzy under there. So, the other day I dipped a bit of rag into oil and hung it overboard on a piece of string. I remember a conversation I had with someone that it dulls their sense of smell. Apparently, they don’t like the petrol, grease or even sunscreen.
Turns out, it’s true, it worked so well that I’ll keep doing this. The sharks were way less aggressive under the boat when I had dipped the oily rag in the water. They are incessant, and I just don’t need that stress in my homebound journey.
Looking forward to seeing dry land soon…. the closest bit of land is looking good right now!!!
Track Michelle here : https://yb.tl/greatpacificrow22
Michelle is grateful to all her sponsors;
The Quays Marina LTD Southern Seas Marine Dunbier Trailers Fibre Marine Boat Repairs Simrad Yachting Survitec Group Ltd. Deep Cycle Systems Chief Nutrition Speedo Sharkskin Tiller and Kites CAMPERS PANTRY Pty Ltd Crewsaver Australia One Party Silva Method Australia
