Life onboard l'Olonnois during crossings

Long crossings, as the North Sea crossing (400 nautical miles), and now
the Biscay Bay crossing (500 nm), are important elements of our trip.
We could have shortened them by introducing more intermediate steps, but
we had found out earlier that after two days at sea, we were just
starting getting into the tempo of watches, and start to enjoy it
without being too tired. So we decided to go for the following strategy:
sail long distances between selected places, and spend enough time at
each place for discovering it "properly".

And here we are, in the middle of the big sea, just the two of us and
our dear boat. Scary? Well, not that much. It is even enjoyable. But the
main factor for making it possible and enjoyable is trust, i.e. knowing
that:
- the one on watch will take care of him/herself (for instance, wearing
his/her harness when needed)
- the one on watch will wake me up if there is something wrong, or any
doubt about the navigation
- the boat can cope with the conditions we are facing now.
And this trust in the boat and in the other one only comes with the time
spent together in various situations, especially the tricky ones. It
allows the the one not on watch to rest properly which is very important
for long crossings.

The life on-board is organized in three-hours watches.
9-12 Marie
12-15 Thomas (including prep. lunch)
15-18 Marie (including prep. dinner)
18-21 Thomas
21-0 Marie
0-3 Thomas (including prep. night collation)
3-6 Marie (including prep. breakfast)
6-9 Thomas.
We indeed have four meals per day, in order to have food often, but in
smaller quantities. Sleeping is also quite spread throughout the day. It
is for me quite difficult to sleep between 21 and 0, while I easily
sleep between 15-18, which would be totally impossible when on land.

The basic tasks to perform when on watch are to navigate (decide where
to go), to set the course of the boat, to set sails properly and fill-in
the log describing the conditions encountered and the decisions made. In
addition to be required by insurance companies, the log is a nice
"quality check" tool that obliges us to follow the evolution of e.g. the
atmospheric pressure, which may indicate bad weather coming, and keep an
overview over how wind has shifted, compared for instance with the
forecasts we had when starting.

The one not on watch reads, sleeps, or sometimes bakes delightful
rhubarb pies ;-)