Part 6: Atlantic (Bermuda)
The attentive reader has already noticed that it is in my nature, in difficult circumstances, not to restrain my emotions in relation to other people. In a raised tone, sometimes obscene, I tell them everything that I think about them at the moment. This is a good quality, it helps to defuse your emotions, relieve yourself of responsibility and shift it to another person, increase your own self-esteem. I'm used to doing this. And then suddenly he was alone and there was no one to splash out his emotions on. I feel some discomfort. And, perhaps, at the moment of the described flurry, I becamerefer to yourself in the third person, like: “Well, you are a goat, Igor Borisovich!”. And that's putting it mildly. So I got another person on the sailboat, an awkward slob and a clumsy one. It was he who clicked the approach of the squall, he fixed the staysail-halyard on one hose, he constantly drowned earlobes, pliers and even an aluminum pipe in the ocean, adapted by me for pulling the clew of the staysail on passing courses. He often stumbled, spilled hot coffee on me, was in no hurry to change the front sails and take reefs, lost loose fenders and what other sins are not infollowed this Igor Borisovich. I could not imagine that I would get so many reasons for the most sophisticated swearing at him. I was strict and did not miss a single opportunity to lower it below the plinth. And very often I thought of poor Maxim. Although he got much less than Igor Borisovich (after all, I am a restrained and condescending person), I was really ashamed. When meeting with Maxim after the end of the trip, immediately after “Hello!”, I said: “Sorry!”. I consider this psychological discovery the most important event in my life.his solitary voyage, which changed my character, and I hope to always maintain condescension towards the people around me. Hey captains who are always right, try this method on yourself. I am sure you will be very surprised.
On the evening of the same day, I managed to do two useful things. Beautifully wrote an appeal to possible guests on my sailboat: “Please! I, Sharygin Igor, Russian, I am going from Venezuela to the Crimea, the Black Sea. If something happens to me, please inform my daughter Olga. Tel. In Moscow…, E-mail…”. And further with pride: "She knows English perfectly!". Attached this paper over the chart table. And second: I tied a rope ladder of three steps and hung it from the stern. I love to swim, in such heat it is simply necessary. And here they go downevery time the ladder is tiring, and you can’t do it at speed. Bathing goes like this. I jump from the stern into the water, after putting on and fastening my safety belt. I hold the ladder with my hand. The third level of security is my favorite Eraser. Bathing is a series of dives to inspect the underwater surroundings for the presence of sharks. Not that I longed to meet them, rather the opposite. When I was a student, being in sail practice, went on a transport refrigerator from Gibraltor to the Atlantic, the men strung on a hugeyuk mackerel. The shark grabbed her almost instantly. Since then, I have had the idea that sharks escort all vessels in their range. And they can be understood. After all, it’s boring just to swim in the vast ocean, and you see, something will fall over. I didn't want to become that "something". A day or two later, I realized that I inherited a diving mask and I only swam with it. It became much better and further visible, but it was not possible to see the sharks. Maybe it's for the best. In the Azores, I asked sailboat bison if they metsharks Nobody saw them. Probably not those who asked.
You, of course, remember that I am a chronic lazy person and therefore did not keep a logbook on this voyage. So I will describe events and impressions from memory, regardless of the days. Just thematically.
The flurry forced me to spread the mattress on the bank of the cockpit, the helm almost touching my nose. For the first three or four nights, I courageously did not sleep, and during the day, when I slept, I woke up every half an hour or an hour. But then my characteristic analytical thinking won! I hardly saw any ships, the last of themx appeared in the afternoon on the third day in the Atlantic. I saw him on the horizon and for some reason timed it. So, it passed my traverse in 20 minutes. I reasonably decided that waking up every 15 minutes was personally unfeasible for me. On the other hand, the ocean is large, and there are almost no ships, it is very unlikely that we will cross. But if such an unlikely story happens, then there is a high probability that I will be detected from this ship either visually or by radar. It turned out that I could sleep peacefully as long as I liked. What I have becomeracticate.
This practice was facilitated by the fact that the east wind of 5-10 knots kept constant during the first three days, I left the cabin only to check the course and setting of the sails, swim and just out of boredom. For a day passed steadily 80 miles. Maxim left me a CD with treasures of world literature and CDs with music. I listened to myself and suddenly realized that I began to like Russian pop music and even, oh horror!, Russian rap. Not all in a row, of course, but I listened to something with pleasure. But about music later, when I get into a storm. Solar panels were enough forfor my modest needs, the near-equatorial sun kept the batteries charged at 12.5 - 13 volts. Of course, I did not turn on the refrigerator, as well as running lights.
And then I entered the limits of 30 degrees north latitude. If my enthusiastic reviews of Morozov's book "Hydrometeorological Support for Yachting" have already found a response in your souls and made you buy it, then you can stop reading. And for the rest I will say that these latitudes are famous for the almost complete absence of winds and the first navigators called them "horse latitudes". And all because when the conquistadors went to conquer America, they brought horses with them. Standing without wind in these latitudes for weeks, they began to notice that the horses,called drinking too much. And dumb creatures were cruelly thrown overboard. Thank God, such entertainment did not threaten me: there was a lot of fresh water, but, on the contrary, there were no horses. There was no wind either. No, he sometimes identified himself and sometimes it was even possible to determine from which direction he was coming. No more than that. The Vakawa moved, passing from 12 to 40 miles a day. But she moved only when the sails were set, I often had to lower them so that they would not flap in small waves. But what joy the squalls brought! Here is theirm was enough, we walked around in circles and I dreamed that they would cover us with Vakawa. I quickly adapted to determine by the thickness of the cloud and its vertical development whether it is necessary to remove the mainsail or you can leave all the sails. Genoa always changed to the main staysail or staysail No. 2, if a heavy squall was expected, the mainsail was lowered completely at the last minute. You know what a thrill you feel when, after many hours of complete calm, you suddenly fly at a speed of 6-8 knots. Like other real pleasures, these too were short-lived.
I experienced a very strong surprise when I realized that the ocean is not a lifeless desert, but a populous place, like Moscow. Never, not for a moment, was I alone there. And I mean not only Igor Borisovich. I used to think that seagulls are found only near the coast. Nothing like that, there are a lot of them anywhere in the ocean. And once, 300 miles from Cuba, a bird began to circle around the boat, a little larger than our sparrow. And flapping its wings like a sparrow. Only dark green in color and with a thin nose 2 centimeters long. Circling around the dovo sailboatfor a very long time, she tried to sit on the handrail, nothing happened - slippery. Just as slippery it turned out to sit just on the deck - plastic, after all. Finally settled down on the windward sheet of the staysail. And right after that, her friend sat next to her. Well, I think so, that a friend, and he, respectively, is a male. I had a desire to treat them ... you thought wrong, not rum, but cookies. I went down to the cabin and when I went back with a treat, they were already sitting on the edge of the entrance hatch, probably watching what I was cooking for them. Go outthey did not interfere with me in the cockpit, they continued to sit 30 cm from me, they were not afraid. I poured them cookies on the roof of the cabin next to the entrance hatch. They showed no interest in him. Perhaps they are thirsty? I poured water into a plastic bottle cap. They don't drink. Maybe they were really expecting rum? They stayed with me for 15 minutes and flew away without salty slurping. What do they eat here? Seagulls also refused to eat crackers. I threw them into the water, they swim up out of curiosity, sniff and for some reason shy away. Seagulls have never boarded a boat. They're in fashion entertainedie another kind. They come over the Vakawa and try to get their shit on the deck, the roof of the wheelhouse or on the solar panels. But it is considered special chic to crap the windshield. They say that the souls of sailors move into seagulls. Then why do they have so much crap? I mean seagulls.
Every time I look for sharks underwater again, I see a school of fish accompanying the Vakawa. Sometimes they form a whole cloud in the keel area, sometimes there are 5-10 of them there, this is when the speed is high. Apparently, they take the hull of the boat for a reef or for a whale. By the way, me toosaw there. Once he emerged from the water about two hundred meters on the left beam and, having started the fountain, disappeared. And after 5 minutes I accidentally looked back and saw him 5 meters from the stern of the boat, a little to the side. He walked at a depth of half a meter and carefully looked at me. His eyes were somehow condescendingly focused, well, like a microbiologist who looks through a microscope. We played peepers for about 3 minutes and he went into the depths without even breathing air. I didn't see him again. But the turtles often swam, usually healthy, a meter and a half in diameter. They areless curious than whales, and did not try to accompany the sailboat. I have already written about flying fish. They took off from under the stem when the sailboat had speed. And they took off just like that, away from the boat, apparently, fleeing from predators. Often I found them on the deck, and one even made it to the cockpit, flying through the open windshield and whistling at my temple when I was at the helm, pretty much frightening me. I must say that I don’t like fishing and I don’t like fish, that’s why I didn’t send flying fish to the pan. But I imagine what these placesx can be fishing.
Somewhere on the 5th or 6th day in the ocean (7-8 days of sailing), Sargasso began to come across on the way. These are such plants, which are a bunch of small, fingernail-sized balls attached in series to a long stem. I don’t remember if they had leaves or not, most likely not. Plants are gregarious, do not like to swim alone, but stray in flocks. Day by day there were more and more of them and one day I was simply shocked! Waking up in the morning and going out into the cockpit, I saw a beautiful picture. It was a sunny windless morning, the ocean was absolutely calm, smooth,the slightest movement. In fact, there was no ocean. And there was an ordinary Central Russian swamp. True, I have never seen Central Russian swamps, but in my mind they should have been just like that. As far as the eye could see, these sargasso covered the entire water surface, forming large and small islands, and in small gaps of free water, gulls, similar to our geese and ducks, swam. I declare with all responsibility that at that moment it was the quietest and most peaceful place on our entire, so restless planet. And tishina!!! It's in the middle of the ocean! Of course, any person is arranged in such a way that if there is an opportunity to spoil something in nature, he will certainly do it. I'm not an exception. With primal cries of delight, I plunged into the warm waters, raising a cloud of spray and scaring away the nearest gulls. Despite the fact that such weather did not promise any prospects for an early advance, the mood was enthusiastically elevated from such a somewhat theatrical picture that nature had given me. Do any of you know where the Sargasso Sea is? If it is in another monthThat is, I will argue on my deathbed that in this case there are two Sargasso Seas in the Atlantic! A small price to pay for the presented pleasure was that the Sargasso scored a glass in the hull of the sailboat, where the lionfish of the mechanical lag is located, and it ceased to show relative speed. I had enough and absolute on the screen of the chartplotter.
Don't expect me to tell stories of violent storms and hardships on the way from the Caribbean to Bermuda. It was a pleasant leisurely swim, just right for lazy people like me. And now I understand why the largest fleet of sailboats in the world lives in Florida. Americans know a lot about pleasure! There was only one thing that bothered me, and it was an unusual feeling. In relation to myself, my beloved, I could not relax literally for a minute. I imagined, and you imagine it too, that if something happened to me, the consequences would be unpredictable.ems. I'm not even talking about the fact that each of us on a completely level ground can break an arm or leg, even a simple finger cut can make it difficult to manipulate sails, sheets and halyards. Of course, before flying to Venezuela, I visited a dentist, but my teeth were the only part of my body that I was almost sure of. And everything else was such a fragile and defenseless substance that it required constant attention and care. I could not afford to jump from the deck into the cockpit, but, like a real pensioner,he moved quietly, holding on to the racks of the spahood and groaning. He used a knife and even a teapot with exceptional care. On the deck he walked only in slippers after he once painfully hit his finger on a duck. Yes, there are slippers. After an 18-year break from sailboating, I remembered an indisputable truth: "Everything on the sailboat that can catch on something, it will definitely catch on." When I realized this again, I had to put on my swimming trunks again, despite the crazy heat.
From the Dominican Republic to Bermuda, as you know, 700 morstheir miles. Taking into account the 100 mile detour from Santo Domingo - 800. On the twentieth day of the journey, I saw land! I admired her all day from the same place. The wind appeared only in the evening and the Vakawa merrily ran to the shore.
Leave a comment for
0 comments