Yesterday was a challenging day. Not the weather but all those other things. We had motored overnight in the glassy calm until around 5AM when the wind filled in so I woke Karl up and we began to sail with the drifter up. (Translation from sail speak �" the drifter the huge multipaneled blue piece of fabric Karl sewed in our living room). It is bigger than our living room and is used when the winds are light. (light, not very strong, just a delicate movement of air over you face). It is always magic to start sailing after having been becalmed.

Just as I felt I had the boat balanced I glance along the starboard deck (starboard right hand side and deck=top of boat), and there was a huge silver fish. The flying fish are normally between 3 and 8 inches. This fish covered in blood was 2.5 feet long, skinny, silver sides with chevon pattern and of course big eyes and sharp teeth. My curiosity took off �" wow I could dissect it and see what it was chasing for dinner that made it leap onto the deck. I could try to photograph it with the microscope. But first I had to share. Oh poor Karl. He was again asleep and next thing you know I am exclaiming about the beautiful fish while dangling it through the porthole beside our berth. Reminiscent of the time Justin was awakened with a dead squid while sailing. The squid day many years ago did not go well and neither did the big silver fish day. Karl was not as excited about the fish as I was dangling over his head. I retreated to the deck to identify the fish and take photos. It was a barracuda, . Link most fish barracuda have a line of triangle shaped teeth at the jaw line but they also have huge canines. Ignorant of the hiding teeth I caught my finger on one - blood every where. At last I get to use some of the many medical supplies we have onboard. Cleaned the cut and reconsidered how much fish fun I was going to have. My curiousity had gotten the best of me.

We were not done for the day. After making pancakes for breakfast when he got up just before 10 with the last of our smoky bespoke maple syrup, Karl announced he was charging the drone. I decided it was time for a nap as I had been up since 345. Next thing I know I hear Karl calling we had a Drone Overboard Situation as the flying toy had hit an antenna on takeoff. The drone unhappily floating upside down, life preserver keeping it from sinking to the ocean floor, here appropriately named the Abyssal Plains. (Translate �" Abyssal really deep, plains really flat). Now was a chance to practice our Man Overboard skills. It took three tries and bit of excitement to recover the fallen drone. The drifter sheets (sheets long piece of rope used to control the sails) had gotten tangled and the drifter itself wrapped around the forestay (forestay thick piece of wire that holds mast up). In the firedrills of the drone recovery efforts II overlooked that the jib was mission critical and the floating drone less so. Of course a human in the water would have been different but right not tearing the drifter is way more important that recovering the drone. And worrying about disposing of the fish with the big teeth in the middle of the drone recovery program was also not the right priority. The drone bleed greyish blood all over the deck when recovered. Well by tea time we had talked through what went well, what didn't go so well and are ready for the next fishy day.

Three good things today (1) we did not kill each other, (2) we did not tear the drifter and (3) we have a pilot fish following us discovered during Drone Recovery program. Of course I polished the day off during the night drifter dousing with an accidental gybe (gybe turn with wind behind you that can be dangerous)

Fish Note #1 Pilot Fish, are striped fish that follow vessels at sea often for thousands of miles., They hide in the shadows of the boat and dart out to snag other unsuspecting fish. Beryl first saw them on the passage from the Canaries to Bermuda her pet Tiger Fish. We thought she as imagining them. AH parents.