JesseMartin.Net
16th Feb 1999
I AM extremely pleased with this week's progress. Apart from one day, we have been doing above 6 knots constantly.
With the speed, though, comes overcast days, but I'm getting so used to it that it hardly bothers me now - anything for speed.
The Around Alone Race (previously the BOC) is catching up, and they are so fast they'll probably beat me to the Horn.
Their presence has got me dreaming about doing a Vende Globe some day, which is a solo nonstop race round the world on the most technologically advanced speed machines.
A pure adrenalin rush. I keep reminding myself, though, that I have to finish this dream first.
I've got a couple of questions from Sam and Ben, from Swan Reach (primary, I suspect). They want to know what I do if I get bored and whether I have a back-up motor.
I do have plenty of time on my hands, but I never find myself consciously bored.
My mind is always drifting around and dreaming. I've got lots of books to read, my guitar, cooking, filming and of course keeping Lionheart pointed in the right direction is a never-ending task.
About the motor, I do have one and it is theoretically ready to go in an emergency, but whether it works after all the water that has been through it is another matter.
I find it is safer just to keep far enough away from land so that there is no need for it.
We had one sunny day during the week so I cleaned all the spilled food from two months ago out of the stove and attacked the build-up of mould up the front where there isn't much light or circulation.
I would have forgotten about Valentine's Day if one of my friends hadn't mentioned it in an e-mail. It was just another overcast day for me, but I took the time to write this small poem:
Out all on your own,
With nothing but your mind,
To think, reflect and learn,
And this here's what I find.
One chance is all you've got,
My turn I've surely missed,
Now all that I have,
Is the memory round my wrist.