March 22: Day 10

The wind is so annoying. We have been trying to go SW now forever but have been unable to. The wind is still coming from the NE, with a touch more North. So we are going West and fighting for every degree of South. We decided today that we would try out the Asymetrical Sail, that is the big puffy one with all the pretty colors. It is supposed to be good for light and downwind sailing. We tried it on the starboard tack to go West but ended up going North-West, then we tried going South and we were going South-East. Jeeze Willikers!!!! The wind was not steady and the waves were a little too high for the Axymetrical anyway so we decided that it was no better than our regular sails and Brett was headed forward to pull down the sock. (Which is just what it sounds like: a giant sock that wrapps the giant sail into a long sausage.) I was in the cockpit when a wave conspired with a gust of wind and all of the sudden filled up the limp sail and the sheet went flying for Brett’s face. He got his hand up just in time to ward it off of his face and recieve the blow on his hand. It was split open from the center of the palm to the back of the hand between the thumb and first finger. Oh My God. There was no time for panic as the wind was building and now, what had been an inapropriate sail configuration was becoming a major liability. There was no way that Brett could now pull down the sock with a giant gash in his hand, but this is something that he normally does since it not only requires streangth but leverage and I am at least 40 pounds lighter than him, and no where near as strong. The wind was up to 13 knotts and the sail is only rated for 10: there was no time. I choked down the lump in my throat and headed for the bow with grim determination. All I could think of was “I need to get this done so that I can tend to Brett’s hand, things like this have a timeline and if we let his hand sit for too long it will be too late to treat it. Oh my god, he might need stitches! Move!” I have heard of mothers lifting cars off of their children and I think I had an adrenaline rush like that. I cranked on that fucking sail with everything I had and it came down like butter. The part of me that was standing outside of the situation was like, “Wow, I didn’t know you had it in you! That was amazing!” With no time for kudos I bolted to the cockpit and finished wrangeling the lines and jibing the boat (again) to get us back on course. More hand-crancking of winches and I am not ashamed to say this is also a heavy job that I usually relly on Brett for. My superhumanm strength held out. Brett went bellow and got on the Mariners Net, a HAM radio band that is monitored all day long for guys who are waiting for an emergency just like this. Winthin five minutes Brett was talking to a doctor and describing our options: We are 1200 miles from land. We have suchers on board but no one who has ever administered them before. We have medical Crazy Glue. It is a skin wound, we can see the muscle but only the skin is damaged. There is minimal pain, and despite the fact that this is a deep wound there is very little blood. The doctor advises us to wash the wound thouroughly with soap and water, use the glue and keep the thumb imoble for one week. Radio back in two days to let him know how it is doing and give him an update. Brett was not a good patient. I was dissapointed that I was not going to get to practice my suchering skills 🙂 Brett refused to let me wash it, since apparently it DID hurt when touched, he was very picky about the bandages, don’t husbands know that their wives know best? In the end we got it all cleaned, glued and wrapped. Brett tried to nap but was way too amped. When Brett was below I saw a flock of birds, there must have been 50 of them flying low over the water. What are they doing out here?