Jer:
I read Tim’s post and feel bad about busting his contemplative mood last night after waking up a little crabby and insisting on taking the Code Zero down. For clarification, we refer to that sail as the screecher, Code Zero, and spinnaker. It is an asymmetric sail that needs to fly off to a side so technically not a spinnaker (and not as large), but has similar characteristics. It’s our largest sail and meant to use in light, downwind sailing. They are often very colorful or will have some type of graphic. Ours is a beautiful solid dark gray and we love it. It’s perfect for the run we’re currently on. However, it can be problematic with wind shifts or gusts, and I’m uncomfortable keeping it up at night. I feel kind of wimpy because I do think the conditions are fine for it right now, but the mental strain of worrying about it the entire night watch wears me down. There is an additional incentive of keeping it up due to our aft jib rigging suffering from some minor issues. Two days ago we were sitting in the front cockpit and – plink! – a screw fell down from the sky. There are a few loose screws in the rigging. It probably won’t be a problem, but potentially could lead to the sail not properly furling leading us to have to take it in or down by hand so it would be good to minimize the usage. Between that and not having access to half of our fuel for motoring, maximizing the use of the screecher makes sense. Regardless, it is down right now and I’m happy about it. Last night my watch was an active one with tons of wind shifts and it wore me out.
Our fresh food inventory: one head of cabbage, two soggy apples, 4 tomatos, a hunk of ginger, six onions, a head of garlic, half a cucumber, a few lemons, and some hard dry oranges.
I made applesauce a couple of days ago with the most soggy apples and will probably end up baking the remaining ones.
This is the longest I’ve been out to sea – 2 weeks so far, whereas 12 days was the longest prior stretch. We’re looking forward to landfall. My plan is two Painkillers (that may only be a BVI thing in which case I’ll default to rum punch) and a fish sandwich. Tim’s is a long shower, fresh sheets and sleep. We’ve decided we can accomodate both.
I guess it’s time to observe the night sky some more. 3 shooting stars so far tonight!
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I just realized… if you arrive landfall this Sat. this likely means less frequent blog postings for us to read. I know, I am being shell-fish 🙂 , however I love reading these stories. I can’t imagine 2 sailboats from different countries trying to communicate in different languages, to assist with ones SIM card in the middle of the Atlantic.
If its possible (and I realize it likely very difficult) , could you share a picture of the deck? Perhaps where you sit gazing or controlling the ship. Even better if you can show Code Zero, spinnaker.