7.17.2010

Cruising the trades . . . 7/15 pm post from Andy

7/15 1900

Back to feeling better. We survived the heat of the day and made some good miles. A couple irritating breakdowns are keeping us from sailing and resting at full capacity but we still have good spirits and are determined to keep sailing well. Nothing dangerous in over 48 hours.

This morning, about 10 minutes after taking the helm (after a whole 3 hours of sleep and a good breakfast), I had had a microscopic momentary spinnaker wrap and then noticed a small tear in the sail. What a bummer. Down with the middle sized shoot (Captain America) and up with the big shoot (The Monster). Then we found what -might- be the source of our troubles and had a long discussion about going up the mast again to cover the offending "sharpie." The plan is on hold for now and we will stay Earthbound for a little longer.

We have another night ahead of us. Last night there was a good squall that pushed bob around at a shifty 35kts right after dusk that was a little intense. We did fine except for the flying objects down below during the oscillations then there was some more squall chasing and lull finding overnight where we had to rotate our drivers every hour. In the morning, when it lightened up, we were too tired to upgrade to our bigger spinnaker and think we lost some miles there.

My favorite part of today was driving while Capt'n Jimmy used the head; try as I might, I couldn't give him a chocolate broach or a dirty round down. There just wasn't enough wind. Maybe next time.

When I told bob that I wanted to do this again in 4 wks he told me I was a nutcase.


Quotes:

"that wave didn't respect the starboard tack"

Andrew


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