Aloha e, Kalani here!
The best way I have come up with to describe this was “miserable in the best way”. Truly this was a mental battle but one that I enjoyed! All three of us had low moments, but the other two were right there to help pull us out of the tough time. Even in the rough times, the energy was high and everyone stayed extremely positive! I think each of us may have lost a few years from the lack of sleep, but sooooooo worth it! CHEEEEEEEEEE!
Aloha mai ethnomads, Keili here!
Hope you are well! Excited to see you all at Fishcake tonight for Chrisʻs art show! He made some new shirts and prints with memories captured from the voyage, it will be very special. If you canʻt make it you going be crying.
Some backstory before you watch wikio ʻekolu (3/7)
We were going pretty slow at this point in the vlog and it was tricky to sleep during night shift. I even found myself dozing and relying on the luff of the sail to wake me up. No lights, no can see.. sometimes Ke Akua takes the tiller… but we did have sheet to tiller during this time which was amazing… later on that would not be possible for us unfortunately.
There were a lot of times that we came up before/after our shift because we couldn’t hear our phone alarms and we would just get a bolt of like, “get me out of this hole” energy.
In this video you can see pretty clearly our sleeping setup: a couple cushions, two stinky pillows, a veeeerrryyy stinky sleeping bag (for 30 to -1 degree weather) and… uhhh… yeah that’s it -life es good! Really and truly makes you appreciate ANY bed so much more.
Mea ʻai
Was lucky to have some very talented chefs on board, everyone made some pretty noteworthy meals - and I think my chef moment was at the beginning of this video. Featuring black beans, bone broth rice with ginger, and canned chicken shredded up and cooked with umami powder and boiled cabbage to top it off + hot sauce. We improvised. a lot.
Hot sauce was surprisingly empty very quickly on the voyage, we went through our first bottle in a week and a half. The second bottle was insanely spicy and I quickly learned to stay away from that one hahaha. But Chris and Kalani (especially Chris) stayed grinding that thing.
It Got Dark
Something that probably freaks out a lot of people seeing the videos is how completely dark it was at night. With few stars or moon to be seen and no boats around for days at a time, we really could not see more than a few feett in any direction. Once I banished the fear of hitting floating debris to the back of my mind, I really was not too freaked out by it.
Techniques
Something that kept me calm during uncertainty and grounded when days blurred was taking big breaths. My Tūtū taught me how to square breathe as a way to deal with anxiety and meditate. Square breathing is essentially inhaling for 4, holding for 4, exhaling for 4 and holding for 4. A great way to reset during the day. I adapted this to set intentions before, during, and after my shifts quietly to myself. If I was sore, during my inhale I would my shoulders as high to my ears as I could and on exhales I would push them down and back. My mom was always a stickler on my posture as well, so this was my way of assuring her I would not become a hunchback on this trip.
Mahalo nui to everyone who watched, read, and followed along! It is honestly so crazy we did that and it was so cold I still cannot believe we were barefoot the whole time in one pair of clothes… so hauna…. BUT I am so glad that we did! With stories to tell and a waʻa to share, I am more excited about life than I have been in a while.
-Keili
This post is dedicated to my mother, Illa McEvilly. Thank you to all my guardians on heaven and on earth for helping us get home safe 🫶🏽