Fast, Food & Donate

This week seems to have passed surprisingly quickly. Then again, not a lot has really happened. Half a week of sweltering heat, then a few days of sporadic and sometimes torrential downpours. We haven't made a lot of ground, though that doesn't bother me as much as the others. We're moving, slowly but surely, so we'll get there eventually.

In the days before our first decent downpour, I got a taste of what it was like to have an unquenchable thirst. A litre a day sounds like a lot at first, but I found you really have to drink conservatively in order to make it last the whole 24 hours. It wasn't an unbearable feeling, just...uncomfortable. Like having gravel in your shoe, or an itch you can't scratch, or like really needing to pee with no toilet around. On a deeper level, it allowed me to empathise with the peoples of third-world nations, where water just isn't available without extreme effort. I mean, any of you could do what I did, a few days with less water. But to live a lifetime like that? I know I couldn't. So after those days, I was left with a new found respect for those who humbly make do with very little.

And then it rained. A lot. We were soaking wet but our spirits soared. We no longer had to stop to procure provisions at the next set of islands. We'll easily be able to make the water we gathered last, which is a good feeling. I'd much rather us making it to Kupang self-sufficiently.

Crew is less tense lately, and Hong Kong Dave is much less annoying since he almost dropped out. One thing I don't understand is why he continues to complain about the quality of our food. Sure, it's not a perfectly cooked Fillet Steak, topped with peppercorn sauce avec pommes frites et petit pois. But it's a damn sight better than the food Bligh and his men ate. Bligh rationed a small piece of bread and a mouthful of water a day. We get up to four survival biscuits, a decent amount of fruit and nuts and a decent amount of baked beans or corned beef. Bligh's crew would be lucky to hit 200 calories a day, whereas we're hitting 1200-1600. WAY more than we need to survive and the food is more than palatable. It's not great, but it's not bad. If he whines with this much food on your plate, I dread to think of what he'd be like if we cut the rations to a quarter. I suppose he's just used to a certain standard of living, which no doubt makes being in this situation all the more a shock to the system for him.

I guess my point is that this thing, so far, hasn't been hard to endure. Hopefully it will remain that way.

Anyway, there is something of particular worth I have to say today. I want you all to remember while following this expedition, that any hardships we face along the way, the sufferers and families of those with Motor Neurone Disorder have it a thousand fold worse. Just head to the Donate area of the bounty boat website to get the link to the Just Giving site. Give something, anything. Doesn't matter if it's 10p or ten pounds, it all counts towards the real goal.

Chris