Sailing, Science, Sisterhood on board eXXpedition, Day 3

Sailing, Science, Sisterhood 

on board eXXpedition, Day 3

Please catch up with Pre-Sailing and Day 1 and Day 2 first! 

We’ve been listening to presentations for the past two days and it’s finally my turn. I’m the last one to go. I was so busy and scattered before I left, I didn’t prepare anything. I got…perhaps a little TOO real and honest about the things that led me to this adventure, telling stories that feel like they’re from another life.

But it’s OK, because everyone is nodding and listening. Chantal puts a hand on my leg as if to steady me.

Luckily, I’m practiced at talking. I end with something I wrote for in a workshop, because Chantal inspired me to share. There’s a hush on the deck, and I smile broadly, knowing my words landed.

I relish it, but only for a moment because it’s time to switch gears. We’re having a solutions workshop- in part inspired by Lara’s badass OTIS class and innovative students, who have taken on a guerrilla approach to challenging pollution.

Because I’m burned, I’m wearing my Obituary camo hat, sunglasses, a long-sleeve SPF sun-shirt, and long yoga pants. I look like a serial killer in every single photo.  I’m also sweltering because it’s approximately 1000 degrees Fahrenheit in the room. This is the dilemma of my fair skin: burn or cook.

Modern problems require solutions by a smart as hell group of women.

As a group, we come up with ways to reduce plastic use, as individuals and communities. Janine immediately heads towards “strict fines” while I go to “tax credits.” Two solutions for the same problem. Kristen encourages veganism. Kirsten talks about one of her sponsors innovating new plastic-free wrap for meat products. The ideas flow freely and vary from simple life changes, to massive societal restructuring. Pollution and climate change are two of the biggest (well, one big one really) issues of our time. It’s overwhelming and depressing and enraging.

But, at this table, surrounded by smart, strong, savvy, women, laughing and brainstorming, I can only feel hopeful.

When I think about this trip, I think back on that table. I think of sweat running down my face and my face and my tangled hair and my aching sunburned body. We’re staring down a mountain of damning, heartbreaking evidence that shows that we are killing and poisoning our planet and ourselves.

And as contradictory as it seems, all I feel is optimism.

I’ve been listening to these women tell their stories: bravely, boldly, vulnerably, and without shame. And I know, more than I have known many things that they are all committed and capable and determined.

I am surrounded by Forces.

I’m rearranging my luggage or something silly when I come on deck. We’re not sailing. We should be sailing. The rope holding the sediment grabber snapped, leaving that giant hunk of metal on the bottom of the ocean. 30 feet down. In cloudy water.

The crew snaps into action. Sally and Anna get on the phone and calmly, but resolutely, ask for a dive team to come right away to retrieve the expensive instrument. It’s island time though, so no matter what, it’s going to be awhile.

Hi mom! 

A bunch of the girls peel off clothes and dive into the water. Visibility is better in the shallow water and the girls swim out to a sandbar. Someone sees an octopus. I set on the deck covered head to toe, waving. I feel like someone’s mother, but I’d rather sit in the shade than peel off all my clothes and sunscreen up. It hurts to move. Luckily, Steph graciously gives me some cocoa butter.

I attempt to make conversation with the pro crew, but I feel like I’m in high school and they’re the cool girls and all my awkwardness creeps back in. “So uh…what do you do for fun?” “I sail.” Oh…right, duh. Sophie tells me about her blog and photography. She’s very talented and hilariously funny.

I’m sitting on deck when a dingy full of older gents passes by. Most people wave politely when they pass. These mega-yacht men raise their eyebrows and say cheeky things. A dozen pairs of eyes roll, and I realize how nice this all-woman thing is. Everyone is polite and friendly and supportive and warm and there’s no competition or harassment or cliques. Just love.

Eventually, what feels like many hours later, thanks to Sally’s friend Martha, two men show up to retrieve our grabber. They don’t have tanks, just fins and a mask. I’ve been snorkeling in the Caribbean before, have seen how it’s a way of life, but I still doubt their ability to find the thing at 30 feet. At 30 feet, about 10m, the pressure is twice what it is on land.

The deepest pool I’ve ever swam in was 12 feet. I jumped off the diving board and kicked off the bottom. 24 feet total. I felt like my chest was going to burst and my ears started to hurt. This man proudly brandished the rope in what felt like two tries. 60 feet of water, total. We cheer for him and they speed off without a word.

Our day’s science program truncated, we sail off to a beautiful spot in a different harbor. We’re nearly there when Anna realizes the dingy is missing. A whole dingy. It’s been trailing behind us because it takes nearly 5-6 hours to inflate, and we need it multiple times this Leg. But now, it’s not.

We launch into action, like we practiced in our man overboard drills. All eyes scan the water. Leah comes up from below deck, worried. “I thought we lost Dingers! Sophie! Not dingers the dingy!”  

Anna spins the yacht around and we’re against the wind, sails flapping loudly and wildly. Lisa is on the bow, her go-to spot for avoiding seasickness, waves crashing over her again and again and she’s laughing. When I first saw her, I never imagined this wicked smart, mother of two, career-woman to become the Winching Queen, Niskin whisperer, and now, Wave Breaker. She never stops smiling and she looks like a supermodel.  

Sally eventually spots the grey dingy, somehow, against the setting sun and Anna launches into a rescue mission because there’s only one chance to get it right before the sun sets. A golden hour dingy rescue. Masterfully, Anna pulls the boat right next to the dingy, Maggie jumps off the yacht and into the dingy, Sophie holding the other end of the line. The whole thing feels very high stakes, like an action movie. 

Once the dingy is securely tied to the stern, I suggest they cover the whole thing in reflective bicycle tape.

Catching rays, catching waves

We anchor back in Falmouth Harbor. Sally has set out the FTIR machine, which can identify plastic polymers, a microscope, and dozens of samples. Jeanne broke out the chocolate bars. We all gather to Do Science and eat chocolate. Jeanne found a compostable spoon, and Sally is dying to put it into the machine. It turns out, it does NOT have plastic polymers in it! The jury’s still out though, about whether or not is it actually compostable in an average backyard pile or if an industrial composter is needed.

Jeanine’s group found a naked baby toy, complete with a penis, that they’ve named Bobby. Bobby is plastic and will remain on the boat as a mascot. Sally passes around nurdles (plastic pellets that never got the chance to “fulfill their plastic destiny”) and other samples for us to see. 

BABY BOBBY!

Every sample eXXpedition has taken, has plastic in it.

Eventually, the science turns to singing. It turns out everyone has a lovely voice (except for me and Lisa). We have a presentation tomorrow at a primary school and Kristen and Leah re-write the first verse of I Can See Clearly Now to be about plastic.

“I can see clearly now the plastic’s gone

I can see all the fishes swimming in the sea

A nice clean beach I’m walking on

It's gonna be a bright (bright)

Bright (bright) plastic-free day.”

SCIENCE! Chocolate not pictured.

It’s so damn catchy and we can’t stop laughing. I joke we’re going to traumatize the kids with a bad-afterschool special.

Sally also has a surprise for us. We’re to sit in silence and write out what we like, notice, and appreciate about the other members of our team. I like to think I’m decent at this and make heartfelt notes about my time with each woman. It’s not even been a week, and I feel so connected to them already.

Then, we’re asked to go and read what we wrote, one person at a time. According to the group, I take no bullshit, have a big heart, a lot of passion, and I’m like a phoenix. It’s probably good I have my glasses on. I think Jeanine cries a little bit. It’s so rare, even amongst our friends, to be this honest and vulnerable, to spend time dedicated to lifting each other up and focusing on our positive qualities. This exercise is a gift, and just as important, I think, as doing the science. It reminds us that others can and do see good qualities in us, and what we see as a negative, others may see as a strength. Now I’m the one in an after school special. And I love it.

That night, I do first watch with Jeanine and sleep like a rock.

Read the finale: Day 4 and the trip home. 

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This is my reflection on Leg 3 of the eXXpedition around the world voyage. All views are my own, not the views of my fellow sailors, Sally Earthrowl, or eXXpedition. For more about eXXPedition, visit https://exxpedition.com/expedition/round-the-world.