1 WEEK

Day 7 4/5/06 4:18 am
Coordinates............ 10 36.219N, 118 25.351W
Heading................ approx. 255
Boat speed..............7 knots
24 hr total nm .........145 nautical miles (NM)
miles total since MX....948 nm
Wind direct. & speed....N/NE 10 - 15 knots
Swell direct. & ht .....N 6 - 8 ft.
Cloud cover.............5%
Barometer...............996 hPa

WOW, one week has passed, Blink. It doesn't seem to matter where you are land or water, those days can still slip right past you. We are still chasing the wind around waiting for what we hope to be true North Easterlies that might send us across the equator. Until then we followed it course and stayed nearly true west today. The seas are even a bit lumpier today. Nobody around here seems to mind although, I do think it disrupts our sleep more than we realize.

Today's story is about the beauty and the beasts of cruising life. We had the spinnaker flying and were making great time. This brought out a large pod of dolphins riding on our bow and all around us. As we watched joyfully, the wind took a quick shift wrapping the sail around one of the forestays and by the time we had it unwrapped there was unfortunately a tear in it. We quickly got it down on the deck, dug out our sail repair kit and went to work. We repaired it and had it right back up when we realized we had missed one, maybe two. Back down it came and a couple more quick repairs. Back up it went. Rather proud of our job we flew it a while longer and decided not to tempt fate anymore that day. The winds were just to fluky and continued to shift constantly and as they picked up we realized we could make just as good if not better time with our jib. We have come to realize that there is a very narrow window of ideal wind for this poor sail. Down it came one more time. I think we could do this in our sleep now. I have to say there is nothing practice and experience to provide you knowledge. Obviously, I know. But I have learned more in this one week about this boat, electrical, sail trimming, radio frequencies, compass headings and angles of every sort, shape and size. It is fun to feel a bit more proficient if I do say so myself.

Today was one of those surreal moments when you look up and survey the scene around you. You see ocean all around you, lobbing over swell and wave, harnessed up, surrounded in colorful sails and realize you certainly never envisioned yourself here, but couldn't imagine being anywhere else, doing anything else, with anyone else. This is one reason why we took this trip. To challenge ourselves, take on whatever comes our way and needs our attention.
Challenge yourself.

until next time,
love lisa and the boys