1151 UTC | 31°48.900’N 023°07.891’W
Sailing
Randomish thoughts as we get closer to port.
Two things I picked up on my way out of home more or less last minute which have been brilliant. A beanie I thought would not be useful as we were due to sail from the Caribbean to the Canaries and I just didn’t think it would be that cold. At times, it was. Plus a beanie is great to shove down the back of your PFD to give a bit of padding against the deck, (also good to sit on). It’s good to shove down your foulie top when it’s not so cold that you need to be fully zipped up, but a bit of wind protection helps. That’s also a handy store for emergency gummie bears. If you are worried about fluff at this stage, take a look at where you are.
The second thing is a pair of rubber soled espadrilles. Way better than any deck shoes I brought with me apart from ocean boots.
Controversially, I think some bananas are good for the first few days of an offshore passage, especially if the weather is boisterous, (or active as the crew calls it). If you take as much of the stem off as you can, it saves spoiling other fruit to some degree and they are full of vitamins and just enough sugar to keep you going. Plus they taste the same way coming up as going down.
Mouthwash is handy as it’s not always possible to clean your teeth when you would like to, and, see point 2 about bananas. My least useful item is the smart watch which is telling me I’m sleep deprived and maybe some soothing sounds, like the sea, would help me drift off to sleep.
Simon, 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!