Living the dream: this is not one of those days! - 60° 21' 41" N 52° 17' 48" W

Storms tend to whip up the seas and it takes some time for the waves to settle down after the storm.  So, while we managed to dodge the storm, we were left with an absolutely horrid sea state.  The waves were big and steep and coming from every direction.  We think they were ricocheting backwards and forwards between Greenland and Canada, thumping in from the Atlantic and every butterfly that flapped its wings in the Amazon created a wave from yet another direction.  Things just got worse as the wind dropped and the boat slowed.  This is NOT detailed in the 'Buy a Boat and Sail the World' brochure.  

Okay, not the storm we ducked but one coming through later
this week.  Guess we are staying in Nuuk for a while!

Without a gimbal, any video we take does not show what we are dealing with.  Wearing socks will send you sliding across the boat.  It is an art to lift the toilet seat and get seated before the lid slams back down.  Loose items knock backwards and forward.  The pen on the nav table tick-tick-ticks backwards and forwards.  The shampoo, fallen over in the shower, tock-tock-tocks with every wave. Plates in the cupboard ting against each other until someone shoves in a tea towel to shut them up. 

The master of the bum wedge while making breakfast

Sitting requires bracing against the table leg and clinging to the table edge. Sleeping is an art. To prevent you rolling around, it is best to assume a version the first aid Recovery Position.  This still requires your core to keep you in position but prevents the worst of the rolling around.  And the bonus is a core workout while you sleep, or not sleep, which is more often the case.

The stove is flat, it's the boat that is at an angle!

The stove is on a gimble which helps with cooking. We set the electric kettle on the stove to make it safer when boiling water.  But great care needs to be taken when pouring boiling water.  Wedging cups in the sink prevents them from skittering around. Bowls, not plates gives greater success at not slopping dinner across the table. And, of course, you have to be wedged in so you have two hands.  Take care when opening a cupboard, the contents are just one wave away from leaping out at you. 

Accidents can happen so easily.  A missed footing or handhold can result in a nasty fall (this did not happen).  An inopportune wave can tip the contents of your bowl into the cupboard (this did - noodles slopping around amongst the jam and tea bags!).  You will hear horror stories of sailors spilling boiling water into their sea boots (thanks for that one, Pete Goss, I think of it every time I pour a cup of tea) and broking hips from falling across the boat as it tips off a wave. We are more at risk of injury in big seas than of pirates or the boat sinking. 

And it is exhausting.  We don't eat well, we don't sleep well and add a low level headache (think that feeling when you read in the car) and things are not joyful...

Just magic!

Then the seas settle down, you get some sleep and you forget all about being tossed around.  You look out at the sea, watch the waves and the birds (and for the moment, icebergs) and delight in slipping through the water under sail.  We really are living the dream.