23:24 UTC | 31°46.953’ N 047°50.57’ W
Sailing
In my usual world of racing, if we see a wind shift up ahead we might wait 2 minutes before it reaches us. On this passage, we have sailed upwind for seven days and 1,200 nautical miles to find our wind shift. Our reward is to finally point towards the Canary Islands. Still sailing upwind though!
Today, seven days into our trip, my seasickness is finally gone and the memory of it is fading too. The first 2–3 days my body and mind were fighting it out and I could do nothing other than lie down, throw up, or curse the person who signed me up for 21 days of this. Today I’m happy I’m here!
Morale is high aboard Adrienne! Today we deep-cleaned the whole boat. Everybody is sleeping well, we sail well, and we eat well. Thanks to our meteorologist/skipper, we even understand how the weather works and why we were unable to get above the Azores High for those nice downwind angles.
I look forward to the remaining 14 days of total immersion in nature. All the day-to-day stressors of work, the internet, and just the general state of world affairs can’t reach me here. I still really miss home though!
// Knut, Adrienne II Crew
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Seasickness
But maybe, I thought, with some drugs I could stay ahead of it. The first 48 hours I felt horrible. But luckily with 3 health care professionals on board and in a very encouraging environment, my body found its way. Anyway, someone offered me a patch (unavailable in Canada) and someone else gave me some pills for nausea and now I feel much, much better.
Dolphins and Bioluminescence
We had a good run with the sails but weather has changed and we are once again chasing the wind. Everyone is getting a chance to practice helming in big swell; starting to get a feel of the wind and water and how it pushes and pulls the hull. A pod of dolphins came to visit at night, splashing in the bioluminescent water, and again in the day, dancing in the bow wake. For now enjoying the calmer sea state and falling asleep to the rumble of the engine and the gentle whooshing of the water on the hull.
Greetings from Lala Lemonshark
The brave crew is toughing it out and staying cheerful despite being tossed around. The engine is off and we are true sailing-main and jib. In the first 12 hours we saw two pods of Orca and four humpback whales, two of which were 20 yards off the starboard beam!