Wind and seas have finally calmed a bit, wind is at 15-20kts and seas have settled to 7-12ft. Still rough, but not crazy.

To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.

With the increased wind and seas, photos of the next few days were lacking. I will try to add some visual content with stock photos and some of my own photos that were not taken at the time. In addition, my writing time was clipped to mostly short snip-its that I hope still convey the nuances of our adventure.

Days 18 and 19

Tuesday, February 15, 2022, 12:45PM

6.2kts SOG

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It started calming down last night during my first watch, before midnight. Sailing has been very good since then. It is a huge relief to be out of those conditions, the boat and crew handled it extremely well.

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Another one beer cocktail hour last night, olives, hard salami, Manchego cheese and crackers were last night’s hors d’oeuvres selections. Dinner was a bowl of the too thick, underwhelming chili that I made at Villa Azul.

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We are almost out of all of the fresh food. Lots of food still in the cupboards, though.

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We are starting to get excited about landfall in Guadeloupe; 6ish more days. I am looking forward to being able to talk with Colleen, Shane and Cate; as well as checking out the island. I have to see if Guadalupe is someplace that I would want to drag Colleen to in the future.

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I need to do laundry and have a quick boat shower.

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Bilge is still getting water in it, John is bailing it out 2-3 times per day. 

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We changed the ship’s clock back an hour today, we were supposed to do it at longitude 37’5, we are now at 46’5, oh well we’re on our own time.

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Day 19

Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 4:40 PM

SOG 6.5kts 

Seas are still quite high, high enough that if the weeknight ‘round the buoy racers were out in this, they would wish that they were at their Yacht Club’s bar drinking god-awful Dark ‘n’ Stormies while clad in their Nantucket red shorts, collar turned up Polo shirt and loafers while talking about their masculine escapades that they have partaken in behind their third wife’s back. 

The only good thing about Dark ‘n’ Stormies is the after race schwag handed out at large races by the rum distilleries.

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The storm jib and trysail down, triple reefed main, staysail are up, with a bit of the jib out, just because we can. 

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Cocktail hour, olives, tuna jerky (blah), smoked gouda and Jens’ crackers.

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Jens made crackers from some focaccia dough that he asked me to put aside for him. They were great; crispy, olive oily and salty.

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Dinner was Chicken-Coconut soup, for the third or fourth time, a crew favorite. The recipe is in chapter 4.

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I did laundry by hanging the dirty laundry, pants and t-shirts off the stern of the rapidly moving, for a sailboat, boat. No detergent, no fresh water, just salt water. For the underwear and socks I did use detergent and salt water in a bucket, rinsed a few times and then hung them out. The clothes are still drying. I will report back tomorrow on how things worked out. 

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Sailing today and yesterday has been spectacular, moderate winds 15-20kts, and moderate, comparatively speaking, seas of 7-10ft.

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Still no motor, wind is our power source, providing just enough power for the fridge and little else..

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We have moved on to some gawd-awful coffee, something John has had on board since somewhere in the Mediterranean, it’s possibly two years old. The grind is for espresso and we are using a percolator. So, not only does the coffee taste like ass, it has a lot of chunks (well…grinds) in it. I keep drinking as much as I can handle at a time, maybe three ounces, before dumping out the remaining dregs. 

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