Day 7 and 8

Friday, February 4, 2022, 12:26PM

SOG 5.7 knots

Sails are set wing on wing.

~

This morning John decided to change our watches, based on forecasted fair weather nights, from 2 people for 4 hours to 1 person for 3 hours, which will give each of us more time to sleep longer at night. 

~

While I napped the others cleaned out the pilot berth, a single berth usually at the widest part of the boat, up high, tucked just under the deck. The berth is designed to keep its occupant snug, well protected during rough sea conditions as well as within close access to the cockpit. On most of the boats I’ve been on, the pilot berth is either used for storage or has been converted to cabinets, bookshelves or a combination of the two.

Different uses for a pilot berth.

The purpose of the berth cleanout is with the new watch system we would each have our own berth. Dennis and I have been sharing a berth, now we will each have our own. The cons of the pilot berth are that it’s located right in the middle of the salon, so it’s noisy and active, as well as it’s a pain in the ass to climb into and out of and I’m not as spry as I used to be. The pro is that you have your own berth.

~

Jens out did himself with last night’s dinner, Date-Walnuts-Manchego Stuffed Baked Pork Tenderloin with Broccoli and Basmati rice. Cocktail hour was shrimp with the Canary Island Red Sauce, quite good store bought guacamole, tortilla chips, manchego and crackers. It was really good.

~

I made some focaccia dough this morning, I will bake it later today.

~

We still haven’t opened the cooler with all the food that Dennis and I made in Lanzarote. We figure even if it’s not still frozen, it should at the very least still be cold. We’ll see.

Day 8

Saturday, February 5, 2022, 9:13AM

6.0 knots SOG

Later today will mark the first week of our crossing complete, after a rough start, it’s been fairly mellow.

~

The fuel tank still leaks a little. The leak is on the top of the tank where there are three see-through windows that Gary the mechanic at the marina in Puerto Calero “fixed”. Yesterday John applied another bead of Phil Swift’s Flex Seal around each window. That combined with keeping the tank no more than three quarters full has made a big difference. John has diligently sponged out the bilge of diesel each day with less to mop up as we progress. 

~

When I dragged my ass out of my bunk after 7 hours of fitful sleep, thanks to the new watch system, which I did from 11PM until 2AM, John and Dennis pointed out the obvious, our clocks were wrong.

According to yesterday’s time it was getting dark close to 9PM and getting light a little after 9AM. I made a half-hearted argument that we should keep the time the same to enjoy cocktail hour and dinner during the light hours and who cares if it’s not light until 9 AM. I was debunked, we switched our clocks to the correct local time. We will now have to start our evening festivities a bit earlier each night.

~

We officially made our turn to the west yesterday, as of this morning we have a tick under two thousand miles, as the crow flies, to reach the waypoint outside of Guadeloupe’s main harbor. 

~

Each day, during all daylight hours we have been fishing, well, we set up the rod with a lure and let it out. The only catch so far was a piece of plastic on Wednesday afternoon. We will make the same effort each day, however the probability of catching something before we close in on the Caribbean is highly unlikely.

~

I’m halfway through reading my fourth book, which is about double the amount of books I’ve read in the last 6 months. Fortunately I downloaded my Kindle with several books before departure. Here is what I’ve read so far:

In Her Tracks, by Robert Dugoni

Invisible, by James Patterson and David Ellis

Boy Underground, by Catherine Ryan Hyde

I’m half way through- The Last green Valley, by Mark Sullivan

~

The sky was incredible last night. The stars were right there, so bright, you could reach them, it felt as though we were sailing through them.

~

Looks like today will be shower/laundry day. Dennis had the great idea of turning one of our empty coolers into a clothes washing bin. Load it with clothes, salt water and soap; lash the lid down and let the boats motion do the work, rinse in freshwater, wring them out, hang’em to dry. Avocet will look a single-wide on a summer afternoon, when mom’s not too hungover.

~

We are planning on opening the cooler with the pre-prepared meals in it today, I’ll let you know how that works out later.

~

We have made a few sail changes, nothing major. During my watch, with a following breeze of 17-25 knots. We were flying a double reefed mainsail and a reefed furling jib. We were moving along great 6.5+ knots without too much movement. The only issue was the jib, being blocked by the main, was flapping quite a bit. I debated my choices- turn up 20’, filling the jib with the change of wind angle. Turn down 20’ and put the jib out on the starboard side keeping the mainsail out on the port, wing on wing. The third option, which John pointed out when he checked in with me, was to just roll up the jib and be done with it, which is what we did. We lost less than .5 knots of speed, we also lost the noise of the jib and its accompanying gear flapping around and gained the comfort of a flatter boat.

~

Once again we didn’t suffer with our dinner last night-

Cocktail Hour- Shrimp with Crunchy Chili Oil, Guacamole with Tortilla Chips and Smoked Cod with Crackers. 

Jens was once again our dinner chef- Soy Marinated Pork Medallions with Tangerines, Baked Potato, Coleslaw and Corn, along with some of my homemade Focaccia. 

~

John is now running the engine three times a day to ensure that we have the needed power, especially for “Iron Mike ” the autopilot and the refrigerator which has the ability to make a couple of trays of ice per day, the perfect amount for our cocktail hour.

~

If you are enjoying reading about my transatlantic adventure, please Like and Share.