Personal hygiene is a must on a small boat occupied by two people. Surrounded by water, however, one’s approach to bathing is not limitless. Robin carries a nautical tank-truck of fresh water, with two 50 gallon tanks. But if you are lavish with it, you won’t be lathering for long.
Up until yesterday we had made do with sponge baths. I did mine at the galley sink because the bowl is bigger than in the head and there is a drain to the bilge consisting of slots in the teak and holly cabin sole. I guess Monica used the head because I never witness the process, but she didn’t smell all that bad.

Monica, wise as always, had directed me to buy a sun shower before I left Annapolis. This is a plastic bag that is black on one side, clear on the other. You fill it with water and lay it on the deck or cabin top with the clear side up. The sun’s rays penetrate through the water and are absorbed by the black side, which then warms the water with its retained energy. Monica’s thought was that although Robin has a very nice shower setup in the head, with a movable shower head and hot and cold water, it would be better on hot days to keep all that moisture outside the boat. The sun shower can be used anywhere on deck.

Yesterday morning, she said it was time. I got the bag out and filled it, laying it on the lazarette hatch behind the cockpit. In the afternoon Monica went to the head and put on her bathing suit. She came back with a bar of Dove soap. By that time, I had tied the bag up to the boom gallows — a framework that crosses the back of the cockpit and supports the boom when you are not using the mainsail.

She reports that her shower was thoroughly refreshing, just as good as the ones she takes at home. Today is my time with the old bag. It is hot out, and there is little wind, so I think I’m going to impose on my pal whatever bodily odors I may be emitting until close to sunset before I employ the shower. Then, while she is sleeping in her nice little settee, I can be comfortable keeping watch from the cockpit in the dark hours.

One piece of grooming remains unattended on my part. I got a haircut in Annapolis the day before I left. That’s going on four weeks ago. I am only now noticing that while the barber attended to the necessary trimming of various cranial orifices, he didn’t do too good a job in my right ear. By the time we get to Newport – maybe sooner – I’ll be able to braid the little tuft that’s growing there.

Wind’s up! We’re screaming along at 2.1 knots!