What is this goop hanging from under my middle finger on my left hand? I shake my finger and it wobbles like a balloon. It’s not blood. Blood is red, this is more pink and blood is runny. Lymph doesn’t act like this either. I shake my finger sideways again and again it wobbles back and forth below as though it is in its own little bag. Doesn’t drip. Doesn’t drop. Weird.
Last full day at sea today and last night at sea on the ARC+ before we make landfall sometime tomorrow afternoon. The ARC+ isn’t officially over until all boats have officially been accounted for and prize giving is complete but until then stuff can happen.
Stuff did happen today. Kira was at the wheel and we had gybed to make a final run to Grenada. We are one man short as Rudi has been out of action for 3 days with food poisoning we think. How the rest of us didn’t get it is a mystery as we all eat the same thing and occupy the same small space.
The wind seemed to be back to normal levels but the waves were a lot bigger and messy. On occasion they stack on top of each other getting bigger still and can force the boats stern in a certain direction and if you are unlucky a strong gust or wind shift at the wrong time can force the boat over and you and everything in the boat suddenly is on a 45 degree angle, Bags, bedding, phones, kitchen items, everything.
We were unlucky.
To right the boat you need to do a combination of turning into the wind, easing the boom over so more wind slides off the mainsail, and furling/reefing the mainsail so that there is less sideways force. Sometimes if wind and wave is on your beam (side) it can keep you healed over for a while until you furl.
This was a ‘good’ one. I was below when our whole cabin tilted 45 degrees. I looked out the cabin window and was staring into the ocean rather than above the ocean. When that happens you know all hands are needed and I raced from my cabin to the cockpit.
Top side there is a broken batton lying on the deck. Seven foot long. Where is the rest of it? Must still be stuck in the sail. Kira is wrestling with the the wheel. Karin is trying to ease the main. Can I furl the main? Do I have the right angle to the wind? I just might be able to do it. Three lines (ropes) you need to control when you furl the mainsail. Furling line in, furling line out, and out haul. ‘Furling in’ is handled by a coach roof winch. The other two lines you need to maintain backward pressure using gloved hands for this all to be done successfully.
All three of us did what we needed to do and the boat stood back up and was soon in full control.
I felt a burning sensation and looked down. In my haste to take care of the overpowered main, I hadn’t put gloves on. About an inch of skin had been taken off my finger due to rope burn. A weird goop was coming out of it. ‘Guys. Anyone know what this is?’
Karin piped up ‘It looks like plasma, you know that watery layer under the outer layer of skin. It oozes out when there is no skin to stop it’.
Hmmm, so that’s what it was.
Learning something new each day on this passage.
Now where’s the Med kit! 
