When the sea was calm

« When it’s not your shift, or when the sea is peaceful, you can rest a little. When the wind changes, then, we must change every 30 minutes to hold the helm, but it’s not always like that.

When the sea is calm, we talk, we laugh, we eat, we often eat actually… when you want to be alone, people tell you to go to rest or sleep ; the watch is at midnight, at 9 PM, at 3 AM.

The only thing that I missed a little was comfort I was used to : hot water, shower, bathrooms… On the canoe, you hang your wet clothes where you can. Also the hardest for me is the sun : the heat is sometimes unbearable on the deck even when it’s windy.

I took my little cushion with me, I love to sleep with that cushion ! The Fijian, Iva, took « Piggo » it became our mascot ! We had fun with it ! »

Diana prefers sailing with women

« They are more sensitive, they guess when something is wrong, when you’re happy or sad, when you are in trouble. You don’t really have to explain everything, they feel things. They are warm, they boost you. Women cook good stuffs too ! Cakes for example, and we take care of each other, we do feet massages ! … little pleasures that make the difference »

« Men believe we are not strong enough »

Men usually don’t trust us. Yet we can do things, but they tend to say « no leave it alone, I’m taking care of it » They want to show they are stronger, they rarely let us do things.

At meetings, some women say it. When we want to work, they rush ahead of us, although we can do it !

On Hine Moana, we managed on our own, we di dit. Once we were in Aitutaki, we all looked at each other proudly, and we all thought « We did it, we are capable of sailing without men »