agility @ sea

We still have about 1480 miles to go so we made another 175 miles of progress today. We didn’t fly the spinnaker all day and the winds were gusting to 35 over the night and had a few small squals. We can track the rain/squal with the radar so we have some warning when the winds are going to pick up.

Jerri want’s cake and ice cream in the afternoon before dinner tomorrow to celebrate our half way across the Atlantic milestone. So, we are going to have to sail faster or better yet change our clocks and watches to actual time. We’ve been using GMT 0 since the Canaries and it’s GMT -2 where we are.

More flying fish today and Jerri saw a bunch of seabird circling the boat for an hour or so but they didn’t land. We also saw a spectacular three masted square rigger. I think it had 5 square sails on the front and aft mast and 6 in the middle. She also have a couple big jibs in the middle and near the front but it was going down wind so maybe it had a bunch of jibs up front that it wasn’t sailing. I think there was also a spanker or mizzen sail on the back. Really specular looking vessel. Too bad it didn’t have AIS or get close enough for a good picture. It looked original from my vantage point so the ship was crossing much like it would have 100 or even several hundred years ago.

To answer Dennis’s question. The mastfoil rotates 360 degres so it’s possible to use just like a sail at about 20 degres or more off the wind or flat against the wind like a spinaker or feathered into the wind to reduce drag or even 20 degrees off wind going dead down wind to attempt to sail in reverse in order to slow the boat down. I’ve been in 50-60kts a few times and have tried all successfully. Typically, I use it flat after about 160 degrees and then turn it into the wind if it starts pumping which happens at about 40 kts apparent going down wind.

Finished Jack Kerouac – On the Road tonight. Jerri mentioned a reference in her book about a massive community in Arizona living in RV’s all searching for their Jack Kerouac experience. There is something about this book that makes me think there might be some new kind of travel category where it’s not just about the location or amenities but about the ability to make connections with the local population on a deeper level. People travel/tourism. Nah, we have TV for that. 🙂