4.12. Rehab

The Finnish crew is a bunch of middle-age men who are used to control their life and the world around them. In 40 years they have collected a selection by more or less of severe obsessions and addictions - some of which are difficult to fulfill in the boat. The most common is not surprisingly addiction for mobile phones and laptops. The worst addicts are Pasi, Olli and - I guess I need to admit it - me.

Olli has tried to keep the phone habit by spending almost 1 000 euros on the satellite phone. Pasi secretly sneaks to his cabin every now and then to spend quality time with his laptop. I have been quite open about my problem. I keep my mobile phone with me all the time using the excuse that as the watch officer I need to know the passing of time at all times and for that purpose I use dear my Nokia. I also use my laptop daily for writing these blogs.

All you readers who know me are now thinking about something else. My chocolate cake, chocolate muffin, chocolate ice cream, chocolate anything habit. But you also know that I always come prepared. A central part of my luggage is a selection of chocolate biscuits; however I still have most of my chocolate left, since our Italian cuisine has included wonderful chocolate cakes and even chocolate ice cream.

Pasi lost the grip today on one of the worst possible addictions today. He remained in control until almost the end, but finally broke on Friday afternoon. He called his work. Only two hours separated him from the weekend and that godly feeling of being able to control your addiction. Our sympathies are with him.

Janne is the lucky one. Smoking pipe is a natural part of sailor’s life and can easily be sustained here as well. When he also has – with various excuses been able to triple his daily beer quota to three cans, his addictions are probably best served of the whole crew.

Karri is also doing fairly OK. Red wine is on offer at lunches and dinners, most of the time it is even Chianti. Half of his trouble package is taken by his travel humidor. He claims that he is about to stop smoking and therefore took with him a selection of quality cigars, which he is planning to smoke during the trip, but not buy any new ones. Well, he really is putting himself to a test. Cigar aficionado who is planning to stop smoking while travelling in the Caribbean? Good luck!

Iiro is sorry of his own. He has developed his own personal diet and healthcare program. To be able to follow it, he is travelling with an array of nutrients, vitamins and all kinds of pills. No wonder our captain calls him Mr Plastic Fantastic. I am sorry to say that Iiro’s fate has been the saddest of all. His no-carbon-hydrate-no-artificial-fat-principles have turned into double portions of pasta, white breda and chocolate cake.

Sailing-wise it has been a quiet day almost like there hasn’t been any sailing. There’s very little wind, but it is extremely hot. The crew has difficulties with sleeping. It must be around 35 degrees inside the boat and even hotter in sunshine on the deck. Our 24 hour result was what can be expected from these low winds, 159 miles. The two leading boats have now disappeared beyond the horizon and other yachts on the southern course are passing us by. Our main task is now very much defending the class lead of six miles we still hold.

Hannu