Water, water everywhere - inside!

It's 3 am and I've just been woken by having a bucket of water flung at my face. But the fun doesn't stop there. Oh no. Now I have to sprint through a wet, slippery, cramped obstacle course trying to catch whoever dumped the water. In the dark. Ouch! That was my toe.

This is life on a boat, in the tropics, when you don't have a good awning and/or wind scoop system (note: most wind scoops don't block rain but I've come across a couple cruising boats that have custom ones built that do). In order to keep the temperature down and fresh air moving through the boat at night we tend to sleep with several of the hatches open. I sleep right under one of these to get the most comfort out of the breeze and because rain squalls can appear at any time. This way I’m usually woken by the first few light drops that fall a minute or two before the really heavy stuff. Not tonight. Either this squall started at max power right away or I slept through those early warning drops (both very possible).

When I finally woke the rain was falling full force through all the open hatches (5 out of 7). My face was already quite wet. The floor (sorry boat people, I mean the sole) around me was already slick and I knew that there were more open in other cabins. Thus the obstacle filled sprint in the dark to get to all the hatches and close them before bedding, towels or valuables get too wet.

And now I wait for it to end so I can open all those hatches again so we can breathe and not drown in our own sweat. Luckily the rain rarely lasts more than 30 minutes. Ironically the guys were on the boat today to take measurements for an awning/rain catchment system. Can't wait!