A Clear, Clean Head is Always of Prime Importance

August 2, 2007
Day 102
Pretending to Clean the Toilets
Wind SE 18-20 knots, Course SSW, Speed 4-6 knots, Position: 16 37 S, 32 25 W

Ship's Log
Reid:
Finally the toilet will wait no longer and like everything else is demanding attention. Leaking and smelling and speaking to me in odd little voices like a drunken leprechaun sitting on a rainbow! Now I have to take it apart and put in new pieces. Then it will smell nice and clean and work as it should. It's just one of those jobs that will get put off over and over for more important sailing jobs. But when a toilet refuses to wait any longer, it won't wait. No matter how much dope I’m smoking that smell just won’t go away.

I quickly got my parts kit and started taking it apart. Then I washed my hands so I could write my little story about it. It looks like it will take longer than today so I guess I just won’t do it, I’ll leave all the parts strewn about in a state of blissful disarray. We do have another toilet that is in a little bit better shape. So we’ll just use that one. Damn those leprechaun voices, I’ll sing him a song and we’ll be friends. We can smoke a bowl together.

In case you're wondering we have four cases of toilet paper-12 large industrial rolls per case. We guessed this is what we would need. Now after 100 days, we calculated that we will have more than enough toilet paper so we have started an art project with it. We are paper mache-ing the shape of a Mermaid God out of TP and saltwater. We will pray to it and then see if smoking it gets us high.

A wind shift to the east has given us a fair wind to make a more southerly course. Each day feels like we're going further out into the ocean. The sea beckons and we are answering. We leave more attachments behind as we progress forward. Our confidence is growing in the fact that we can keep going in spite of our damage and all of the repairs that I have to keep making. Our big repair to the bowsprit is holding. I go over it every day to make sure. Though the first 100 days were epic, we marvel at how fast it passed and we are not intimidated by the upcoming time we will spend on the sea.


Soanya's View:

Boy am I glad the toilet was finally put on the work list. No amount of scrubbing would fix it. Usually, scrubbing fixes things but this time Reid took it apart and it doesn’t smell any more. He was talking to a leprechaun in there while I pretended to stand watch. Is he bogarting all the weed? I will put that on the work list next, grow more weed.

But enough talk about heads. I'm looking at a dashing sunset with neon pink streaks against the pale blue sky. The air has gotten a bit cooler maybe in the mid-seventies instead of around eighty degrees. I will miss the overwhelmingly hot weather (not overwhelming for me). I forgot to mention that the underwater window had changed back to sparkling blue about three days after we passed the equator. The greenish tint must have been a characteristic of the inter-tropical convergence zone (ITCZ).

1000 Days of Hell at Sea