First at-sea post

We had a great start. We stayed away from the traffic at the other end of the line and managed to cross with speed and clear air. We had a bunch of nice tacks and good tactics while playing with the tide and, although we didn't win the "first under the bridge" prize, we claim we won the first past mile rock prize.

It was nice sailing, sunny, tons of dolphins, more whales than I've ever seen, and variable wind from 7-13 kt. We had a beautiful sunset on glassy water, with whale bellowing and flukes a-splashing . The wind then really died and now we are doing 0.00 kt speed over water. The seas are so flat that we can't even really use our ultra-secret swell drive.

After some soup and crackers (we expected to be a little sea-sick by now) and some fresh-baked  ginger cookies, it was time for a couple awkward headsail changes, and a nap on the rail… from which I was awoken by a whale spout that startled me awake because it was so close.  It was a little nutty.

Andy

07/18/2012 0030