Day 18 - Convection
15 April 2009
Roger
Trip Log 2473 nautical miles. 1162 nautical miles to go.
The flying fish count has dropped from 12 to 5 to 3 this morning. We're still seeing many of them during the day.
We saw, or more accurately, heard, dolphins for the first time two nights ago. It was in the dark, before the full moon. We could hear them breathing just by the boat, and saw very bright phosphoresence in intense, concentrated balls. They did not leave the torpedo-like trails we've seen in the past. I think this is a function of the type of phosphoresence --- we're not leaving a bright trail --- instead, our path is punctuated with occasional bright glowing balls.
We're growing large gooseneck barnacles above the waterline, especially at the stern, with a few smaller ones along the sides. Nothing appears to be growing on the anti-fouling paint, so we shouldn't have to stop to clean the bottom.
We encountered our first real convection activity last night. Five separate squalls overtook us, one of them gusting to 38 knots. The trade winds have now increased to a minimum of 20 knots, and are supposed to continue increasing. The swells are increasing significantly, and we're having occasional frantic rolling sessions, rolling well over to each side. Tane was preparing bowls of pasta last night while I was at the navigation station. Suddenly he flew across the cabin towards me in a shower of pasta and source. He hit the edge of the nav station with his hip and knee. I was decorated with pasta and sauce, and the cabin sole was deep in dinner. We collected it all on the mats and fed the fish with it. The mats were washed and left on the side deck overnight. One of them is missing this morning.
The winds are slated to increase further of the next week, and swells are to rise to around 5 meters. We ran under double reefed main last night. This morning revealed another broken sail slide, so we've lowered the main and are now running with the poled out jib.
This morning we're had a wonderful show of rainbows, one after the other as the rain showers pass over us.
We're all feeling quite tired now, as the stints at the wheel in rolling downwind seas require that we work quite hard at the wheel. The combination of a fairly large swell from astern with smaller cross seas means we're regularly kicked sideways and the person at the helm has to react quickly to counteract in order to stop the sails thrashing and having the boat roll severely. Until the last couple of days, we've had the wind coming over the port side, astern. This meant we could keep both sails out the same side, stabilizing us. Running directly downwind, the rolling becomes much more severe. This makes it harder to cook, eat, clean, and sleep.
Tane encountered a new phenomenon this morning. He was taking his morning constitutional when the whole mess spouted up underneath him. A fountain of shit. Needless to say, the loudly voiced invective stung our ears and scorched the sails.
The lines are back in the water again, as we've come to the end of the fresh fish.
The adventure continues...