Life Aboard for a Sailorette
It is amazing how perspectives change. I haven’t had a shower for 16 days! And it is OK! At least no one has complained yet.
I managed to wash my hair in the kitchen sink today in salt water, and rinsed with fresh. I wasn’t as brave as the men who dipped into the ocean for their bath today. It was a little too chilly! We have a solar shower with fresh water that is warmed by the sun on the deck. It is a good way to rinse away all the salt. I was reading a cruising manual, and someone suggested using mouthwash as a body wash to remove salt, but I think I will pass on that one!
Baby wipes are my new best friend and get me by between the “3 F’s.” This is a lovely expression that Helen Walker, my Georgia friend, taught me. The three F’s are face, feet, and fanny and describe quite accurately, the sink baths that have replaced my regular regimen. The plethora of hair and body products have been replaced by a bar of soap, deodorant, hand sanitizer and an occasional lather of hand lotion and a comb through my hair. My contact lenses now remain in my eyes for a month at a time, so I don’t have to fuss with solutions and I managed to trim my hair with a hand mirror and a pair of scissors in the cockpit. My only remaining vanity is my leg wax strips, but I am sure that over time, they will be replaced by a razor too!
I was concerned about not getting exercise but have given that up completely. Just remaining upright under sail and bracing continually while sitting in the cockpit as Aleydabeth climbs up and down waves are isometric exercise extraordinaire! I actually think I pulled an abdominal muscle while sleeping on the settee from the constant rocking back and forth and sliding around caused by the motion of the boat. Add to that, climbing in and out of a rolling dinghy, making it up and down the swim ladder out of the water, climbing into bed (quite a step up for me) and trying to reach the cereal box located in the back corner of the locker just out of my reach, provide all the stretching one could possibly need. As for yoga, I consider just getting my foot into the bathroom sink a position in itself. And if I need some anaerobic exercise there is always flushing the toilet, which involves a lot of pumping with both hands! I often crawl out of the kitchen if I have raised the extension on the counter and my shoulders ache after my turn at the helm in 20 knot winds, from just wrestling with the wheel. Believe me, I am considerably more active just living aboard then I was when I included a regular workout in my week!
Standards change too. Dishes are often used and reused by other crew members to diminish the amount of dishwashing and I can get a week out of one pair of socks. Clothes that would normally be destined for the laundry are hung out to dry on the rail and re-worn, even if caked with salt, and I don’t even want to consider how seldom we change tea towels and bed linens.
Clocks have become internal, and we wake and sleep with daylight and night. AJ has wonderful terminology for this: Cruisin’ Boozin’ and Snoozin’. We think carefully about using lights and always consider how much the motor has run before we charge batteries on laptops, ipods or cameras. We separate our garbage and the ocean is our composter. We gather non perishables, crush what we can and deliver our “basura” to each port’s dumpster for disposal.
I think I may be a better person aboard a sailboat than I am on land. At least I live smaller and experience life bigger. Tonight I was on deck, alone in Bahia Santa Maria 20 miles from Magdalena Bay. Lyle is sleeping, Tony was doing the dishes and I was considering the wonder of no spaces between stars.
It is amazing how perspectives change. I haven’t had a shower for 16 days! And it is OK! At least no one has complained yet.
I managed to wash my hair in the kitchen sink today in salt water, and rinsed with fresh. I wasn’t as brave as the men who dipped into the ocean for their bath today. It was a little too chilly! We have a solar shower with fresh water that is warmed by the sun on the deck. It is a good way to rinse away all the salt. I was reading a cruising manual, and someone suggested using mouthwash as a body wash to remove salt, but I think I will pass on that one!
Baby wipes are my new best friend and get me by between the “3 F’s.” This is a lovely expression that Helen Walker, my Georgia friend, taught me. The three F’s are face, feet, and fanny and describe quite accurately, the sink baths that have replaced my regular regimen. The plethora of hair and body products have been replaced by a bar of soap, deodorant, hand sanitizer and an occasional lather of hand lotion and a comb through my hair. My contact lenses now remain in my eyes for a month at a time, so I don’t have to fuss with solutions and I managed to trim my hair with a hand mirror and a pair of scissors in the cockpit. My only remaining vanity is my leg wax strips, but I am sure that over time, they will be replaced by a razor too!
I was concerned about not getting exercise but have given that up completely. Just remaining upright under sail and bracing continually while sitting in the cockpit as Aleydabeth climbs up and down waves are isometric exercise extraordinaire! I actually think I pulled an abdominal muscle while sleeping on the settee from the constant rocking back and forth and sliding around caused by the motion of the boat. Add to that, climbing in and out of a rolling dinghy, making it up and down the swim ladder out of the water, climbing into bed (quite a step up for me) and trying to reach the cereal box located in the back corner of the locker just out of my reach, provide all the stretching one could possibly need. As for yoga, I consider just getting my foot into the bathroom sink a position in itself. And if I need some anaerobic exercise there is always flushing the toilet, which involves a lot of pumping with both hands! I often crawl out of the kitchen if I have raised the extension on the counter and my shoulders ache after my turn at the helm in 20 knot winds, from just wrestling with the wheel. Believe me, I am considerably more active just living aboard then I was when I included a regular workout in my week!
Standards change too. Dishes are often used and reused by other crew members to diminish the amount of dishwashing and I can get a week out of one pair of socks. Clothes that would normally be destined for the laundry are hung out to dry on the rail and re-worn, even if caked with salt, and I don’t even want to consider how seldom we change tea towels and bed linens.
Clocks have become internal, and we wake and sleep with daylight and night. AJ has wonderful terminology for this: Cruisin’ Boozin’ and Snoozin’. We think carefully about using lights and always consider how much the motor has run before we charge batteries on laptops, ipods or cameras. We separate our garbage and the ocean is our composter. We gather non perishables, crush what we can and deliver our “basura” to each port’s dumpster for disposal.
I think I may be a better person aboard a sailboat than I am on land. At least I live smaller and experience life bigger. Tonight I was on deck, alone in Bahia Santa Maria 20 miles from Magdalena Bay. Lyle is sleeping, Tony was doing the dishes and I was considering the wonder of no spaces between stars.