Sailing, celebrating, star watching, eating brownies
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Mary
Happy birthday to you
Yes, it’s our skipper’s birthday today! We have two more birthdays coming up on this trip.
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It’s day 3. Almost everyone has found their sea legs, so all is well.
We’ve had a great passage so far. Good wind, a comfortable sea state, good company, good food. What more could you ask for? (Hmmm. A shower would be nice.)
It’s warm! Down below, it can be a bit of a sauna. On deck is not as bad as I expected. A decent breeze cools you down a bit. As we’re heading almost due north on a starboard tack, the mainsail provides a reasonable amount of shade after noon when sitting in the cockpit. However, you are rather exposed when at the helm.
Even at night, it’s warm on deck. The breeze is such that when at the helm I’ve been almost too warm wearing two very light layers. May it continue!
As the moon is past its third quarter, we’re getting amazing views of the stars for the first part of the night (provided there aren’t too many clouds). At around 1945 last night, Phoebe was at the helm and six of us were sitting in the cockpit. No conversation was going on. Had we fallen out already? No. Were we miserable and counting the minutes to the of the watch? No. (Three of us from the next watch were up on deck early.) We were all simply quite happy just to soak in the sight of the Milky Way.
I was on the 2000-2300 watch last night. Looking astern, it was great to see the Southern Cross slowly pivot as it made its way across the southern sky. How often are we able to see the night sky AND make the time to observe the passage of the stars across the sky?
Just had dinner. Phoebe cooked brownies in lieu of a birthday cake. Well received.
The sun has just set. We’re slowly settling in for the night.
Good night.
Bruce Hardie
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Day Four: The boat has figured us out
By day 4, things start to get into a rhythm that starts to look like a small community onboard. It’s when personalities start to flourish, when people start losing themselves and start to realize that they don’t really care about a lot of things! I’m pretty sure the disconnection from the internet starts aligning our inner selves. Clearly everyone has gotten their sea legs by now, and even the boat seems to have understood the type of crew she has now. I love to see how people start fitting into different roles with their peers and the boat itself.
Kärt barn har många namn
A dear child goes by many a name, or as we say in Swedish "kärt barn har många namn". This is the case for many a person, but also some species, not least the Mahi mahi, which also goes by dolphin fish, golden mackerel, and dorado, among others. Soon, we could see the fish jump, a hundred feet or so behind the boat, and as I kept reeling, a beautiful Mahi appeared under the surface. Manot showed us how to clean and fillet it, and after a complete team effort two large fillets are now in the freezer of Adrienne II.
Cast off the lines
When we awoke it was overcast but the Brazilian sun quickly burned the clouds away and we were left with blue skies. We reviewed some safety procedures, cleaned the boat and had an exciting Person Overboard (POB) recovery. Once we were underway spirits soared as we pointed the bow toward the Canary Islands. As I write this we are heading upwind and dealing with all that involves, and working into our first watches. It is hot, a bit bumpy but we are sailing!!