Commodore
March 16, 2023

Thursday 16 March – a day of light winds

I had a great sleep as I had my night off shifts. We had sailed all night with Ginger Spice (Parasail) up, it was very comfy even if a bit slow. Our sticky patch repairs on the sail from the other day seemed to work ok. We had a very late breakfast and finished off the banana bread I made from my frozen banana stock, and pecan nuts from South Africa.

Around late lunch we got a message from the German Arc boat Cepa, asking if anyone had high blood pressure medication as the owner was suffering and they had been in touch with a cardiologist back home and he required medication urgently. It was a little unnerving as you realise your’e not going to make it to a hospital anytime soon. Again Stinky played a vital roll and messages were got to the rest of the fleet. There are two doctors on Mistral of Portsmouth, who are on hand to help if needed. The lady on a boat called Lonestar which was in our nest going through the Panama canal, is a Pharmacist and has medication on board, they will hopefully reach Cepa at dawn. They are in contact with the Medical and Rescue services in both Germany and Tahiti. The guy’s blood pressure has dropped reassuringly, but the latest report is they are worried it has dropped too low and he is very weak and tired. We met his wife and daughter on the city tour in Panama city, neither of them wanted to do the crossing so flew home and his wife is flying out to French Polynesia. It must be very hard for all of them.

All this prompted me to go through our medical supplies this afternoon, and I also thought I should go through the grab bag for the emergency raft again as I haven’t had a good look since the Canaries! I found the medical bag in the grab bag and found it had a cable tie on it, I thought it was best to cut it open so that we were not looking for a knife in an emergency! I discovered it only contained bandages and a few plasters. It should at least have anti seasick tabs and a few paracetamol. I have now topped it up with rehydration salts, asthma pump, mercurochrome (the only thing I find that dries out and heals cuts in the sea water), Ibuprofen and a few extra goodies. I’ve packed extra glasses and sunglasses for myself as I’m lost without them. The last few days experiences have made me think a lot harder about our survival raft and it’s contents.

Our daily treat from Phoebe makes afternoon tea a winner, we’ve finished her delicious home made dark mint chocolate and pistachio fridge cake and are now onto her home made florentines……. so scrummy!