Bali to South Africa – Fall 2025

Continuing passage to Mauritius and taking advantage of the wind from the low-pressure system, over the last 24 hours, we sailed over 200 nautical miles on only wind. The boat is extra rolly; once the starboard side caprail even went for a swim.
Today started with the 12 – 4 AM watch, and we enjoyed a massive snack hour with saltines, fruit loops, other cereal, milk, fruit, etc. It is also Zeke’s birthday, and we sang happy birthday many times to Zeke, starting from a whispery happy birthday at 3:30 AM to wake him up, when he arrived at the watch, and for lunch and dinner. We sang the normal version, a version where Jewel goes “oo oo ah ah” and everyone else goes “happy happy birthday birthday!” and one where we only sing the word “birthday”, skipping everything else to see how long we can stay in sync.
Exactly 23 days ago, I started the tradition of sending around a card for everyone to sign on Perry’s birthday. Between then and now, we also celebrated Mac’s birthday a day after Perry’s, Maia’s birthday in Mauritius, and today Zeke’s birthday the same way—seeing how long we can keep signature-gathering a secret when we do everything together and live together in a boat around the same size as a basketball court. Somehow it succeeded, and at the end of dinner, we surprised him with a fully signed card, and Kyler brought out a cheesecake, which we loved despite the chaos of sea spray, waves, and rain.
While battling seasickness and Dramamine drowsiness, we finished the marine bio lecture on estuaries and continued to the first leadership chapter presentation, where I talked about thinking about complex organizations as systems with a systems dynamics lens. My activity was playing a game where people stand in a circle to toss and catch packaged Ramen at each other, seeing how many packets they can keep in the air at the same time. Jumping off, we brainstormed reasons for improvements, and thinking about the effectiveness of interventions at different scales: individual, rules, and mission. It was interesting because I feel like, despite having a good idea of what I wanted to talk about, I had to improvise a lot based on the answers I got from people, and together we built a cause-and-effect diagram of having women in a leadership position. It was really fun, especially seeing how much people enjoyed the Ramen game.
Last but not least, building upon the bucketing blog from last time, I’ve been inspired by Mac’s different bucketing technique to try something different: instead of tossing it and dragging the bucket in the water behind the boat, hoping to catch water, I’m now practicing of tossing the bucket in at the exact right angle so it can scoop up water immediately, at the exact right time of the boat keeling to the lowest point, and with the exact amount of loose rope needed. Too short of the loose rope, the bucket won’t reach the water surface appropriately; too much string, and you risk not being able to pull up the bucket immediately, and the bucket dragging behind the boat or pulling up too late, it bounces on the water surface, and loses most of the water. I’ve also gotten into the habit of bucketing any time I possibly can, even when I’m not saltie: before dinner, or while everyone is waiting in line to get food, or finish eating extra early to bucket. Moreover, I’ve grown to also enjoy not just underway bucketing but also at anchor bucketing. It’s like a sport; at anchor bucketing is a workout because you have to haul it up the entire height of the boat; underway bucketing is a skilled sport because it’s more about technique than power. Comparing power, the ocean is always the winner.