and 4 and 5. So my daily updates aren't. Daily, I mean. Sometimes, the effort required to actually write an update is just too much work, and then there is the whole needing to actually getting a ssb connection....I have so many worries.
Firstly, the weather. It's been per usual, a bit of this, and a bit of that. Generally, we've had at least some wind to push us along, although up until today, it's not been from the right direction. Well, it's HAS sort of been correct, although combined with currents and swell, we were actually about 30 degrees off course, but the fantastic wind prediction program we use, and LOVE, PredictWind, was spot on with it's prediciton that either sometime today or tomorrow, we would have a wind shift. When I came up from taking a nap just now, we were on a 20 degree difference of course heading. Yay, for once, the little green line on our chartplotter has us actually heading to Easter Island rather than Pitcairn. This too was what null school showed, as a few days south of the Galapagos, the wind would shift from a southeasterly wind to one more directly from the east. Those of you that are sailors...you'll appreciate that we've been pinching for days, trying to gain a degree or two anytime we could, but today for the first time, our apparant wind is 70 degrees off our port - perfect!
The squalls have settled down too - we were getting one or two a day, but yesterday for the first time, we just had a few clouds, but no rain.
The biggest news - we got showers today. The seas were such that we could safely throw some water on our various bits, and just like God, we rested (and washed) on the 7th day (actually, this is day 6, but didn't work with my little story). Once you become a sailor, things like a shower, or an ice cube, or a clean bra can make you giddy (or at least memorable enough to write about it).
The food situation has been about as expected. Day 3 I made up a pan of lasagne, which got an infusion of a some grated carrots of dubious usefulness (captain didn't complain). We ate around 4 in the cockpit, together for once, and I had a glass of red wine, and Ron had a beer to go along with our fine Italian repast. Several months ago, I had read of a technique to use lasagne noodles and layer them UNCOOKED in your pan. This, to me, was a revelation, as I'd always thought that lasagne was such a pain to make and made way too many dishes. Truly a "eureka" moment.
Today, the captain got a big bowl of biscuits and gravy, his favourite "county-boy" breakfast. Unfortunately, he got no side of bacon or sausage with that, just some leftover ham slices, that too, needed to be consumed before they got any slimier. Once thing that sailing does is beef up your immune system to cope with any amount of "less than perfect" produce. Take our bananas...they are a day away from the perfect consistency for bread, or the freezer.
We've seen no wildlife for days! A few birds always show up to fly alongside the rig in the night, but during the day...nuthin'. Except for the hairy man in my cockpit, there've been no beast sitings.
Position to date: 06 04'.195s, 097 21'.155w
Conditions: 1-2 foot swell
Wind: 11-17 knots
COG: 212 degrees
Speed: 3.5 knots
Weather: sunny, with gorgeous deep blue waters
Book reading continuing apace....
Hi you two's. Sounds like the cruising is going well. Nice to hear the wind has freed you off a bit, must make a huge difference and a welcoming change! Have you been catching any fish or is the freezer still full enough? Heather, I can't find the winlink email addy you'd given me, god knows how many times, I have scrolled up and down our FB chats, but can't seem to spot it. Hope this will find you well. Great to read the updates, keep m coming and stop checking on how many miles you still have to go!! Lotsa love - rock'n'rolla's x
ReplyDeleteLovely update. It is funny what you end up appreciating when you're out away from the rest of the world, like just a shower! Thanks for sharing.
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