still heading west-sort of
25 May 2015
Bill/lots of stars
Well, it's just after 0300 and I just came on watch after a 3:45 minute snooze. We are still heading west, at least sort of. While I was below cat napping, Tracy gybed the boat(turned the stern of the boat through the eye of the wind behind us) and we took off on a more northwesterly course. We had been on a more southerly course when I went below. We're now heading back up towards our intended course line towards the Seychelles. The wind(and thank heaven we have some) makes us have to jog back and forth in order to keep a westerly course. We've got wind at about 13 knots which is better than we've had in quite some time. During the day, we get maybe up to 7 knots. Nighttime seems to give us a bit better wind. The Hydrovane is again working like a champ on the stern, guiding us along with only slight tweaks from time to time. We do love this piec of equipment. Best investment we made when we bought Zephyr. Anyhow, that's what's going on in the middle of the night.
I just had one of those little juice boxes that was full of orange juice. What a treat! Found some boxes of the stuff while searching for cans of cat food for the kids. While on passage, Snowhoe demands the canned stuff. It's sort of a treat for them knowing it's not the most pleasant time for kitties on board with the floors constantly moving back and forth. We have to be careful with Snowshoe(had BIG paws when he was born). He gets constipated easily so we now have to watch his diet. We keep a tube of laxative in the frig for him. It makes both the kids have to be on a high fiber diet so canned food is a real treat. Any how, while looking for the cans, I found some boxes of on so I got a treat too.
It's now closing in on 0400 and the night sky is amazing out here. There is no light pollution to mar your vision and with darn little out here, ther is very little air pollution so what is above you is amazing. Stars everywhere! The Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon just full of even more stars. It's one of the things I had looked forward to in our travels but rarely have we seen such an amazingly clear vision of the night skies. I even have a program(Starwalk 2) that shows me what stars are above me on my IPad. A very nice program to have durning the night out here. As for the ocean, well, it's a big black void that we glide through. Dark and black and at night, as you sit in the cockpit, it's the last place you want to be in cause you just know it's full of nasty beasts and scary stuff. Amazing during the day it looks so pretty and inviting. Strange the appearance it takes on at night.
As I sit here, I constantly(well, every ten minutes if so)the horizon around us making sure to see stars as much as possible. Stars good--no big black clouds lurking out there. Oh oh, the wind has just died off. Still see stars so it's time to adjust the sails and see what's happening around us. Back to "work".