December 21, 2014 on passage from New Caledonia to Australia
Two plus two is… let me see, no, that’s easy. I can still figure that one out. But I filled up our fuel tank from jugs yesterday. Eighteen gallons plus thirteen gallons… let me see, 8 + 3, so I’ll have to carry the one, so that’ll be thirty something… 8 + 3 is 11, so it’ll the sum’ll end in a one… thirty carry the one is 41 gallons! Wow, wait, that ain’t right!
I get passage brain, even on nice passages like this one. Simple mental tasks get very difficult for me. You’d laugh if you could hear what goes on in my head when I try to figure out our ETA. “Let me see, today’s Monday, and 46 hours from now’ll be… what day is it again? Let me start over.”
I’m sure there are some kind of standardized tests I could take before and during a passage. I’d love to quantify my mental degradation. Am I the only one this happens to? (Did I already do a blog post about this? I can’t remember.)
What’s the cause? Is it being rocked, shaken and slammed for days on end? Living at a 20 degree angle? Lack of or interrupted sleep? Altered diet? Atmospheric gluten? Would some drug prevent it? I know alcohol doesn’t – I’ve tried that. I think some research money is justified here.
It’s not right (I used the word “right” instead of fair because right now, I can’t remember if it’s f-a-i-r of f-a-r-e!). There are times when I could really use my brain during the passage and it’s out to lunch. I just hope that adrenalin is a cure for the syndrome (PBS?), and in the event of an emergency, my brain will function adequately and do what’s needed.
I’m writing this while about 200 miles off the coast of Australia, approaching Bundaberg – well in the throes of passage brain. It’s been a good passage and we’re racing along with the wind at about 15 knots on our stern quarter. Bob McDavitt has done a brilliant job for us on this passage – predicting our weather with precision and clairvoyance! At the rate we’re going, we’ll be in Monday, maybe before dark (but I could be figurin’ wrongly.)
(Note: any typos here are the result of afore mentioned syndrome!)
