Pacific Musings

• 13 April 2026
• pacific

Family, friends and foes, it is I, the technical operator of this blog, back from my fortnight hiatus. And where did I go? It’s all relative, but picture me in a sleep-deprived, heat-exhausted state (but thankfully not quite heat exhaustion). The stupor is beginning to lift as we’ve settled into the sea life.

The real key to sea life is to do as little as possible during the heat of the day, which coincides with sunrise and sunset out here on the open ocean. Trying to do anything but sit is a fool’s errand because the heat and humidity will knock you out fast.

But back to my adventures, Apple helpfully notified me of a change in my health trends. Apparently I have mastered sea life with a new daily step average of… 76. Yes, dear reader, that is not a typo. In my defense my phone is often not with me so I probably take double or triple the steps, but the fact remains I have not traveled far these past weeks.

On the other hand, if you were to track our sailing route, I have traveled far indeed. We’ve been dodging squalls and red blob lightning storms (the darker the red on radar, the more intense the storm). Our current obstacle is a Chinese fishing fleet made up of hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of vessels. They turn off their location on many boats so nobody really knows how big these fleets are, but they are spanning 350 miles across our path.

But enough of these updates, and onto these highly important musings:

• Sarah should never have night watch. She magically summons lightning storms all around us until I get up and relieve her of watch and then the storms dissipate.
• There is far more life at sea then I expected. At 3am the other night I excitedly pointed out the giant glowing orbs of light in the water trailing from our wake. They were presumably bioluminescence on steroids, scattered amongst the tiny regular bioluminescence. Sarah and Jesse were uninterested in my observations. Something about staring at the lightning storms around us. But I sent them off to bed and worked my storm dissipation charms and watched my bioluminescence in peace.
• There are dolphins in the middle of the pacific, but they aren’t as interested in boats. They’ll briefly come by. I think the dolphins doing flips off the coast of Mexico probably escaped from SeaWorld.
• As we near this Chinese fleet the amount of ocean garbage has increased dramatically 🙁
• Sleeping in the front of the boat is apparently only a skill Sarah and I possess. The movements are wild. You know how your stomach drops on a roller coaster? Add a second axis and that’s kind of what it feels like. Your innards attempt to stay at rest while your weary corpse is violently dragged in another direction. It is rumored in truly horrific conditions a third axis is added to this motion.
• I’ve taken up the motto “live by the sea and die by the sea.” Because some days you just get your ass kicked and other days it’s an exciting adventure of sailing across the Pacific Ocean.
• I have had two sauna experiences. Both were horrible. The bathrooms are understandably tiny, and when you close the door there is no air flow. It’s just you and your dirty deed locked in a sun-fired kiln, as your body glistens with sweat. 0/10 stars, would not recommend. The second sauna was in the lair of Pierre, the French autopilot who lives in a locker under the cockpit. I waited until sundown before oozing myself into the locker to rewire a solar charger. Good news is we doubled our solar capacity, but at the cost of the 30% of my body that was water. Somehow Jesse did this very same thing while the sun was out some days prior and I did not think the human body could survive such conditions.

I have steadily maintained my position as least-helpful crew member. Not because I do nothing, but because I do the least. Someone must demonstrate that constant productivity is the downfall of any sailing team. Rest and recovery are just as important as scrubbing bathrooms and adjusting sails.

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