BACK TO “NORMAL”

Time: 1:42 AM

Current Position: South 4 degrees, 59 minutes, West 24 degrees, 25 minutes

Well, after a series of squalls, we seem to be back to normal. The boat is on autopilot, she’s racing along at 8 – 10 knots in 20 – 25 knot winds, the seas are bumpy because of the storms, so it’s a wild ride – lots of water rushing noises, lots of up, down, up, down, side to side, jerk this way, jerk that way, big canons under the wing deck, cool breeze coming through the front doors, moon overhead, no one around, sails reefed significantly so the autopilot can handle it. Ah, sailing Horizon on the high seas.

I’ve started my night watch and had a full 6.5 hours of sleep, so I am feeling much, much better. Back to my old self. Got pretty ragged there for a couple of days, just couldn’t get the sleep I needed and a lot of hand steering and wild wind/weather.

Just didn’t have much computer time the last few days, sorry about that. Now downloading more messages than usual as I type this.

We are getting very close to our intended way point near South America, the one Matthew set for us as he helps us route our trip. The waypoint was just due west of us, and when we get three (or maybe before), the wind is supposed to clock around so that we can start going north. We have to go north anyway, so we don’t hit Brazil.

As I mentioned before, the doldrums strip tends to narrow as you get closer to South America, so now it’s time to turn right and head north. This waypoint is our official halfway point, so we will open the Halfway Box that Matthew and Ally gave to us before we left. That should be interesting. 🙂

Food still holding up well (glad the generator is working!); lots of meat in the freezer, and still having fruits and veggies, although the supply is dwindling. Just for that reason alone we are thinking we will stop somewhere on the way home. The garden has been supplying greens as fast as it can, but there’s a limit to what can be taken each day.

I am growing sprouts, but even the “sweet” ones are pretty pungent, so the official eater was asking today about ways to marinate them or…something. I will see what I can do. Maybe soaking them in a sweet vinaigrette would work. The spinach seeds I planted, helped by all the rain, have sprouted already, so I planted more – and sacrificed a few basil plants to make room.

Wouldn’t you know that the basil plants were incredibly healthy, but they are not salad greens – and we really need salad greens. So I made a pesto, which I used in tonight’s dinner, that included sun-dried tomatoes, eggplant from St Helena, and pesto, which went on some nice basil noodles and was joined by some filet sliced thin and liberally sprinkled with a delicious parmesan from Cape Town.

I feel like I’ve lost 20 pounds, but we’ll see when I actually step on a scale. Probably more like 10. Fine with me. Sailing is exercise, no doubt about it. Just moving around this boat – especially on deck – when she’s rocking and rolling – is plenty of exercise. I’m not eating desserts, and hardly any snacks. Exercise more, eat less…tried and tested method…

A flying fish just landed on deck, flopping around. Full size this time. They are amazing at sea, flying from wave top to wave top. I helped him get back to his normal life on the water. His wings are just long fins, that he can open and close like wings, almost as long as he is. Full size, they are about 8 inches long.

Below is a small one that wasn’t so lucky – he came on board during the night and I didn’t find him in the cockpit footwell until the morning, when he was rather…stiff.

 

Much love,
Philip and Kristin

P.S. Spoke too soon. Birdies are back.