1000 Sunday, 8-12-12

Good morning yawl,

The weather is beautiful, wish you were here.

First - Yesterday's menu began with scrambled eggs with roastbeef hash, toast, and raspberry tea for breakfast. For lunch we had mahi mahi ceviche (Vince's recipe), triskets, and a variety of cheeses. For supper, we had pan grilled mahi mahi and angel hair pasta covered with a garlic sauce. Vince and I enjoyed a glass of water on the back porch soaking in the evening sun and trading sea stories. Brad, the Skipper, navigator, communications officer, foredeck, sail trimmer, chief cook, and bottle washer prepared the meal. We are pondering the thought of catching another fish but there would need to be a major clean - up of the back porch after the filets are cut before our gathering for the sunset.

Second - The cruising has been in three phases, so far.. We left paradise close hauled in squawly conditions of 12 - 15 knots driving three hour watches for 3 days. We then hooked up Cap Otto Horn, the wind vane, adjusted it to a heading of 40 degrees at an apparent wind angle of 38 degrees and let go. It worked to the point that we cruised at 5-6 knots in 6-12 knots of wind for 5 days, I think. I have lost count. We are now motoring at 5 knots with 2 to 5 foot swells out of the NW with no wind as expected. The swells are a constant reminder that there is big wind out there somewhere.

Third - Trash. the flotsam seems to be 30 yards apart now. We are constantly vigilant, especially for floating nets, and polyethylene line that can get stuck in the propeller. Luckily, we do not pass any at night, TIC. Just in case, our Communications officer turned on the radar screen, It does a good job picking up everything in the water, except for the styrofoam.

Fourth - We have 328 nm to get to our waypoint. We will then make the decision as to whether to make a beeline for home on a screaming reach. This will repay King Neptune for the glorious cruising we have experienced so far.

Fifth - Things to ponder on the 1200 to 0600 watches include: Is there a new moon if it can't be seen? Does the universe rotate around Polaris, the North Star? Will the AIS alarm really go off if there is an impending collision with a container ship? Do we really have to come in?

Sea yawl, Brad, Vince, and Bill

P.S. Apologies if the pic and/or beginning of this entry are duplicative. Dad accidentally hit a button that closed the blog app before he was done typing, and one frustrating aspect of his app is that, for the life of me, I cannot find where it stores blog entries before they're sent out to confirm whether the previous version was deleted or sent prematurely. Brad, "The IT guy"