Unexpected domestic goddess

(photographic evidence to come)

Last week I got excited about a new laundry bucket. A couple of days ago I baked bread. Yesterday I actually asked a neighbour if I could borrow a cup of sugar (okay, it was baking soda, but it was still just as scary!)

Anyone who knows me well will see what is wrong with this picture.

I am not a domestic goddess in the way a fish is not a mountain climber. When I first moved out of home I had to call my mother to find out how to boil potatoes. When I was working as a journalist and living alone with my cat my weekly groceries consisted of microwave dinners, cheap wine and Whiskas. I only do my laundry when I run out of socks and undies and I don’t separate my whites from my colours.

Living on a boat however has forced me to learn a whole new raft of skills. My descent into domestication started slowly with cooking on passage (when I stopped being too queasy to eat). Then, on discovering that getting laundry done in Tongatapu cost $8 a kilo, I decided it would be prudent to give washing in a bucket a go. When I became excited about a plastic tub with an inbuilt washing board that we discovered in a junk shop, I knew something was seriously wrong! The prohibitive cost of laundry meant that most of the fleet chose to DIY, making most of the boats resemble floating washing lines. One of our fellow stragglers even coveted my washtub and got one for herself.

Another thing about boats is that, because of the confined space, they can get quite messy quite quickly – especially when there are more than two people on board. It has been a bit of a challenge for me to remember to pick up after myself (anyone who has seen my room or my desk at work can attest to this) and I still find myself putting things down, getting distracted, and forgetting to pick them up again, but (with the help of a little nagging form the skipper) I’m getting there.

My culinary skills usually consist of sauces that come in packets and things with the word ‘instant’ written on them. Ready to eat meals are great when you are on passage and don’t fancy spending much time in the galley while the boat is rocking around, but it is a waste of food when you have 50kgs of tuna on board and ready access to markets that sell lovely fresh produce at reasonable prices. This means you need to be a little creative and actually do some ‘real’ cooking. Fresh bread is also a little scare in the island, with most places having only one bakery that opens sporadically – so baking bread is another thing it is best to do yourself. Those of you who were unfortunate enough to try my chocolate pudding with salt instead of sugar (neither of them had a label okay?!) are probably shaking in their shoes at the thought of me baking but – to my intense surprise) it was actually quite edible.

The recipe came from Diane – the wife of Fergus who came with us from Wellington to Auckland and Auckland to Opua. Both she and Fergus are crewing with us now and will be heading round Fiji with us, which should be good fun. Diane is great. She’s like the Yoda of cookery and is full of little practical tips to make life on the boat easier. She and Fergus have been sailing around the world for years and live on a boat of their own in Auckland. I am taking notes and hopefully some of it will stick!

We even made a banana cake the other day. The cheapest way to buy bananas around here is in gigantic bunches which you hang on the back of your boat. The only drawback of this is that they tend to all ripen at the same time, so I have a feeling there will be a few more cakes in our future! We were three-quarters of the way through making said cake when we realised we either didn’t have or couldn’t find any baking soda (this was a little irritating because I had put together a stowage plan so we knew where everything was. This meant I had to get on the radio and ask if there was anyone nearby who had any. Summer Soul (one of the rally boats moored near to us) came to the rescue and we sent Paddy over to pick it up and back again later with some cake for their troubles. Yachty neighbours are great – you can pretty much always find someone willing to help you because they know that next time it could be them!

Paddy thinks my new-found domesticity is fantastic but I have warned him not to expect me to morph into the perfect housewife when we get back home (thought I might be a slightly better cook!) We don these things on the boat out of necessity and because of that it is kind of rewarding to be able to do something practical to help. I am also picking up more sailing skills and (though not 100% comfortable) I do feel like I can be more of a participant and less in the way – which hopefully means I can stave off being made to work the plank just yet!