Rolling Right Along!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008 2:30am
coordinates 24 06.453N,019 47.877W

All is well here just over two days into our crossing. Right now all we see is water but it is strange to think that the Sahara Desert is only 150 miles off the left side of the boat. We ended up having some nice wind to sail us out of Las Palmas which was a nice treat. That lasted about 8 hours then became a motor boat ride for nearly the next day. The winds were forecasted to be filling in nicely so we waited, and fill in they have. We have seen winds from about 15 to 35 knots but averaging
around 20 out of the ENE for the last 24 hours, and we're averaging about 6.5 knots. It feels much like Santa's Sleigh ride, swooping up one side of the waves and racing down the other. Unfortunately boats don't go very straight when the swell and waves come from a variety of directions. So it feel a bit more like being on a tilt-a-whirl. Add that with Santa's sleigh and you have Mr. Toads Wild Ride. Originally we had full canvas up but have settled back down to a double reef in the main and
the storm sail set up wing-on-wing. This means that the head sail is pulled out to the left with a pole and the main sail off to the right. We look a bit like an uneven butterfly. It helps to lower our center of gravity and cutting down a little bit on the roll and keeps us prepared if the winds pick up suddenly. only supposed to last a few days before going light again so we are trying to get as far as we can on it. We couldn't as for a nicer start.

It is currently 2:30am, Bruce and the boys are asleep and I, Lisa, am on watch. Every boat out here has a slightly different watch schedule depending on their needs. We have settled in on a bit longer watches than most. I sleep from 8pm to 1am while Bruce is on watch, then Bruce sleeps from 1am to 6am while I am on watch. We swap and do it all over again. There are a few hours during the day when we are both awake, especially around dinner. The boys do school in the morning by themselves until
I wake up and then we try to do the rest together. Every night we eat dinner together and watch a movie. We are on to our Christmas traditions now which means a new Christmas movie every night. Matthew is making a red and green Christmas chain this year but instead of ripping off each day, he adds a new one on for the crossing. It helps us keep track of the days at sea and we'll be nicely decorated when we arrive, hopefully before Christmas. On their down time, the boys get two hours of screen
time, be it computer, game boy or video game. The rest of their down time is reading or playing games like cards, chess, legos, battleship, etc. Every so many days we get to take a shower while sitting on the back of the boat. If we run the engine, we get warm water but the wind cools you down quick.

The Kelly's on s/v Moorea are just about 60nm behind us. Along with a motor vessel named Kosmos and a trimaran named Redwood Coast that we have met, also from US, are just about to scoot past us out there somewhere to the west. And much to my surprise another s/v that has been keeping good pace with us named Sun Chaser from Sweden just hailed me on the VHF to wish me a quiet night shift. Lastly, an Australian boat that we met back in Gibraltar are about 590 miles south of us as they just departed
out of Cape Verde. We are all trying to make landfall somewhere around Port Marin, Martinique. I mention all these boats only because they are our small link to other humans voices right now. We hold radio nets each morning and evening to check in on each other. We exchange our coordinates, discuss what the movie and meal dujour are. If anyone is in need, then there are at least of few of us out here to help. If any one at home happens to be a Hammy let us know. Maybe we can set up a time
to chat!

So we're settling in nicely to the routine. Everyone is feeling great and watching the days click by.