Super Chill Downwind Sailing & A Swollen Sailor
Sea state and state of mind are one in the same. Or, at least they are on our sailboat.
It’s day three through six of our passage from The Marquesas to
Tahiti. Much has happened in these three days.
I failed triumphantly at baking French butter cookies, my face swelled to the point I almost mistook myself for Joan Rivers, we made a change of plans and celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. But, most importantly it’s a gorgeous sail.
Big rolling three-meter swells at just the right angle for surfing, the spinnaker flying, the sky a kaleidoscope of color and the motion of the ocean reminiscent of riding in my grandmothers old Cadillac. It’s what I imagine floating on clouds would feel like. Billowy, soft and just the right amount of bounce to know you’re in motion.
If my body hadn’t been on revolt, we may have just kept sailing. It was that good. So grab a beverage and settle in, because mother nature was showing off.
Love At Sea
Twelve years of marriage? I don’t even know what to think about that. It doesn’t seem possible. Where have the years gone? They say time flies when you’re having fun, but this is next level. I’m a little afraid to go to sleep tonight for fear of waking up tomorrow clinking to fifty years with arthritic shaking hands.
We celebrated with a nice dinner out, post chambongin’ it. There was a Thai restaurant walking distance from our anchorage. Because nothing says romance like spicy food in a tropical location with no air conditioning. However, slurping noodles through conversation with sweat beading from our brows seemed oddly fitting for the occasion.
Between the beautiful days at sea, the buzz from rapid prosecco consumption and the sweaty food coma, it might be my favorite anniversary so far.
Swollen Sailor
I was exacerbating the allergy unknowingly and increasing my suffering. Turns out, mangoes are my kryptonite. I have eaten mangoes my whole life and purchased them more times than I can count from the grocery store. But mostly in the USA. In the USA, our food is washed, shipped and then washed again. By the time I have ever pawed at mangoes, they were ripe and squeaky clean. This was my first time to be around fresh, green, unripe mangoes (which sort of blows my mind, because mangoes grow in the US too).
Allergic might be an understatement, but I have since learned that am allergic to the mango tree, mango sap and the green skin of mangoes. The (ripe) flesh inside however is no problem. So, I was picking, peeling and eating mangoes almost daily…and well, you witnessed the swollen aftermath. Because the reaction wasn’t immediate (and I have never had a problem with mangoes previously) I didn’t associate the two.
It wasn’t until after my face ballooned up that I suspected it was the mangoes. Ya see, the day before we left I found this perfect mango tree off a remote hiking trail, with this one perfect mango just barely out of reach. I jumped to grab it and BAM! It fell off the tree and smacked me in the face. When my face started swelling up I started to panic, but also remember the mango face smack. We turned to the iridium phone and asked our Curious Minion to look up “mango allergy”.
And that’s how we learned about kyrptonite green mangoes.
I now treat mangoes like Superman treats Kryptonite. I stay far, far away until they’re ripe, peeled and sliced up.
Medical Cocktails
For those worrying and wondering, we do have worldwide medical insurance (more on that soon), a full medical kit and then some. We are our own floating hospital armed with EpiPen’s, a full bar of medical cocktails including antibiotics, an artillery of staple guns and a wide selection of wound care.
Jason half-jokingly refers to me as nurse Nikki. Poor guy has had to stop requesting my help on general wound care because I’m so keen to practice my suture skills on a real live subject. “No really, I can close that cut up in a jiffy.” However, after that swollen face, he may have to change my nick name to Dr. Jekyll.
🙏 BIG THANKS!
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RESOURCES & GEAR IN THIS VIDEO
Entertainment at Sea
- Kindle: http://amzn.to/2mpGQ9K Audiobooks and podcasts are The Best on passage.
- Currently listening to: Lost City of Z https://amzn.to/2LhY433
🎥CAMERA GEAR USED IN THIS VIDEO📷
- All our camera gear: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/photo-video-gear
🎶AWESOME tunes for vids: http://bit.ly/artlist-gwtw
- Artists Used In This Video: Giants and Pilgrims, Ian Post
SAILING REPORT
- Dates: June 23-26, 2018
- Passage: Days 3-6, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas to Tahiti
- Total Nautical Miles of Passage: 469
