We were at 18’11.869’N, 40’08.719’W at 9:45am this morning.
The GPS says I will no longer fall about when I poo in just over 1217 nm.
Of the two human companions, the optimist says we will see land in 8 days, the realist predicts 9.
Still not bad. This means we are over half way across the POND.
The first few days are always the worst. Just letting your body adjust to the constant movement and adapting your daily routine and sleeping schedule. Now it is just ‘same old rolly, rolly’.
Remarkably the waves often feel worse when the winds die down. With out the stabilizing effect of the boats forward movement, she rotates about and gets hit by the waves at a variety of angles. With out the wind in the sails they flap about and often ‘SNAP!’ back into position when the wind catches them backed. So it is better when we have a consistent wind. We chose to cross this time of year because the trade winds are meant to be consistent, and they have been really.
Because we have a near constant NE wind we do little to adjust the sails. They are just set in position and we turn the boats heading a little as the winds shifts around. It does mean that wear on any warps is always in the same spot, so have to check all the lines everyday for any evidence of wear or stretch. We had pre-set up the twin head sail arrangement, so we knew where the lines would come through the fair leads and touch each other and the rigging. We whipped on plumbing and water pipe hoses in these areas to avoid excessive wear, and they are working a treat.
I forgot to tell you about our first flying fish the other night. It was three am. The humans had just changed watch and it was pitch black before the moon had risen. All of a sudden something hits the floor in the cockpit and starts thrashing about. Both me and the human on watch jumped out of the cockpit in fright. When a flashlight was brought to the scene we found a 1-2 pound long silver flying fish thrashing around in the bottom of the cockpit. He had very large eyes that seemed to fill the whole head region and stiff long pectoral fins that held out a thin membrane that served as wings in flight. Of course we set him back into the sea. We have seen loads since and it is quite remarkable how far they shot through the air the plunge into a distant wave face. It is funny how the first one to board our boat should do so precisely into the cockpit.
Weather looks to remain good for the next few days.
So, no worries mate!
- SOA Day 11
