41. Surfing. Sophie writes that the storm is getting out of control; without sails, the boat is simply surfing at the mercy of the wind, and is pulled in whatever direction it blows. Sophie adds that she’s in a funk, because she wants to do “all the gnarly work on the boat,” all the rough work up on deck, but whenever she volunteers to do it, she gets told to take the helm instead. Further, she says that when Dock chose Cody to help fix one of the sails instead of her, she “threw a little fit.” Brian called her selfish, which angered Sophie, and so she pushed Brian, nearly knocking him overboard, but Cody saved him just in time.
Here the crew continues to assume that, because Sophie is a female, she has no place in doing the “gnarly work” on deck—that she’s too delicate, and fragile, and also that she’s not competent enough to do the work. This infuriates Sophie, especially when The Wanderer is in need of immense repair—she’s so upset that she refuses to take any of Brian’s meanness this time, and retaliates, fully expressing her anger for once.