Day 9?
04 May 2016 | The Southern Ocean
Colin
This is a BIG ocean! I read that when we sailed across from Mexico to the Marqueses 2 yrs ago that it was the farthest from land you could go anywhere on the planet. Well, right now I'm not even sure we're still on the planet... There is NOTHING out here. No ships, no planes, very little marine life, just the big albatross Gavin made friends with while cleaning his tuna a few days back. That guy seems to be following us. On the flip side, I have never seen water so clear or blue and the stars in the night sky go from horizon to horizon and are so densly packed that it's hard to pick out constellations from the background.
Life aboard has settled into a rhythm of watch keeping, sleeping, reading and eating interrupted by sail changes and boat projects. It's amazing how quickly a nuisance turns into a failure under the constant wear of sailing 24/7. The weather has been a mixed bag of pretty much everything from 10-35 kts of wind to 1-6 meter seas, sunny and warm to cold and raining. Fortunately, all the weather has been pushing us from behind thus far, so we just keep sailing along. As usual, we are eating very well thanks to Wendy's culinary creativity. And Gavin has been a big help breaking up the watch schedule and helping on deck. While Wendy and I have already managed quite a few long passages double handed it's nice to be getting the extra sleep on this one.
Today has been windy with 20-25 kts dead astern and several heavy rain squalls. Tonight we are ripping along at 6-7 kts with just a partially furled jib out. Trying to balance course and speed against a smooth, drama-free ride that will allow everyone to sleep. Well, trying to...