Rapturous!

After the turbulent crossing of the ITCZ, this Rapture crew had earned a perfect day that would justify this crazy adventure. Our Day 17 was one of those days. Our night watches were sublime, we had calm seas and moderate winds from the right direction and we had Roxy cooking. Days like this is why we go cruising. My night watch was from 4:00am to 6:00am. It would seem to be the worst time to endure two hours of boredom, or worse, anxiety. The sky was really dark, no moon until early morning. In the Southern Hemisphere there seem to be many more stars and the Milky Way is very bright. How blissful it was to sit on the princess seat, listening to the rush of water and rustle of sails while trying to pick out constellations with the help of an offline smartphone app. I was having so much fun that I let Greg sleep in for half an hour before calling him up for his watch. The wind hadn't changed and the sails required no attention. All Greg needed was a strong cup of coffee but that would have to wait until I'd had the second part of my night's sleep.

Around 8:00 I awoke to make coffee - Peet's carefully hoarded and sealed for freshness but Roxy was up before me. It was her turn to cook for the day and in her usual way, she ignored the menu and got creative. Instead of cold cereal we had scrambled eggs with fresh bell pepper and sun-dried tomato pesto. After breakfast, the parasailor had to be deployed. We're getting so good at this that there is no drama. The big, colorful belly filled with wind and we immediately increased our speed to 6.7 knots. Not bad in only 10 knots apparent wind. Well, chores have to be done, so out came the bucket and detergent and I spent an hour in the not yet blazing sun scrubbing away at sweat stains and food spills while a cool breeze lifted the hair off my neck. Then the lifelines were festooned with colorful shirts, shorts and nethers absorbing the smell of sunshine. For lunch Roxy made garbanzo bean and sweet potato patties with dried fruit chutney and carrot salad. Wow! It's hot in the galley down below and Roxy was working away for about two hours. "I'm not cooking tonight," she says," so I may as well cook for lunch." She's our hero. At least, the parasailor provided a smooth ride and no flying utensils. The heat descended in the afternoon and the breeze diminished to 7 knots apparent. Without the parasailor we would be dead in the water, going nowhere, rocking drunkenly. As it was, all except the helmsman, Diane, took a nap. Because the seas were so benign, we could keep all the hatches and portholes open and with the boat moving, the ride was steady. The bimini has made such a difference. The helmsman can find shade at almost any time of day minimizing the equatorial sun exposure. We sweat so much that sunscreen slides right off. Long sleeve shirts, hats and shade is the uniform. 5:00 pm SSB cruiser's net. Greg communicates every day with another sailboat, Tango, who is 600 miles behind us. They left only two days later than we did but they have had no luck with the wind. We found out that they had covered 22 miles in the previous 24 hours. Urgh...with the prospect of 1000 miles to go that could get you down! We are grateful for our downwind sail plan. Captain's hour was split. As we move West, the daylight drags behind so that 6:00pm feels like 4:00pm. Soon we will have to set our watches forward an hour. Meanwhile, at a hot, mid-afternoon 6:00pm, ice-cold beer was the beverage of choice. Towards sunset, the wind shifted forcing us to change course and douse the spinnaker so all our joie de vivre had worn off by dinner time. Roxy provided us with thick slices of lasagna made by Falconi's restaurant in La Cruz so we had to have a glass of wine to go with it. It was a great end to the day.