"Arctracer" Letters

Update 2 - At Sea 8 February 2013

Hello all!

I'm not sure when you'll get this, but as I'm writing it, it's 6:30am on Friday 2/8 in NYC.

Here are our coordinates since my last note (noon each day):

Tues 2/5: 20 deg 44' S, 07 deg 24' E
Weds 2/6: 20 deg 13' S, 05 deg 41' E
Thurs 2/7: 19 deg 22' S, 03 deg 33' E
Fri 2/8: 18 deg 34' S, 01 deg 23' E

Most days we have traveled 130-140 miles. At this pace, we are likely to arrive at St. Helena Monday night.

I was only uncomfortably seasick for 2 days. Now it seems I feel a little off in the middle of the day, but can still function! Hooray!

Filming on a boat is challenging. I imagined it would be, but it's more so than expected. Mainly because it's difficult to, say, stand up. Sometimes I lay down in the cabin and wait for action to come to me. ;)

I dropped my 60D once and shattered my filter to a million pieces. The lens itself and the camera seem to be fine, though. One cable isn't working, but I had a backup. Other than that, everything is still working and nothing has been accidentally "donated" to the fishes.

Speaking of fishes, we haven't caught any. I yelled to them today and told them to please bite because I want to eat them. They don't seem to care about me much.

Speaking of eating, my mom can cook! On a boat! I was aware of this, but you may not have been. While I can barely stand up, she manages to make homemade pizzas and bread and Indian spiced potatoes and dahl and tortillas and...you name it. Pretty awesome.

There has been very little sun - overcast most of the time. We prefer to rely on solar panels for power, so it's been less than ideal - we motor a bit each day to help charge necessary batteries for navigational tools and such.

I've spent a lot of time listening to music. Like...JUST listening to music. Weird how long it has been since I've been able to do that. At home my head is in so many places at once. It's also funny listening to the top 25 played songs on an iPod I haven't listened to on a regular basis in 5 or 6 years. It's a time capsule!

Another favorite pastime since boarding Arctracer is sleeping. I've had a lot of crazy dreams, but 2 stood out and are oddly similar. In one we were in China and after a couple days staying in someone's apartment, I noticed all their computers and things. I frantically checked everything - email, skype, twitter, flickr, facebook... When I got to facebook there were exactly 3 notifications and one was about some game or other. Wah wah. So please, send me a note somewhere somehow. I miss you and am desperate for your attention. ;)

In the other dream I was babysitting a girl and she was extremely excited because her mom had told her we could have ice cream that night. I was just as excited as she was. Fine. Maybe more excited. We ran to the kitchen and opened the freezer and there was a container of...artichoke ice cream. I was disappointed. Rubi, however, shrugged her little shoulders and said "It's pretty good."

It's now 8:10am in NY. I took a short break. Some combination of the ocean swells, the aroma of my Mom's delicious cooking, and typing up a note to my loved ones caused, as a 3yo I know recently put it "the yuckies to come out of my mouth". I get it, Atlantic. You're bigger & stronger than me. Now cut it out.

Wish you were here!

Love,

Sailor Hilary

P.S. Please fully appreciate your next shower.