Champagne, Mud pits, and Passersby

Sailing has so many forms. We were so lucky for the first leg of our journey to San Fransisco to have the nicest sailing conditions we could have hoped for. The crew has repeated back and forth to each other “champagne sailing, champagne”. Incredibly, since we left SF it’s been mostly the same except some of two of the last three nights have been floppy and slow. One night when I should have been sleeping it was more like being a hog rolling around in a mud pit. It’s still sailing but no one would want to jump in with you, all I could think was bring back the champagne.

I am feeling more comfortable with this oceanic sailing. Out here the boat moves more and the swells carry and push us around. It’s so much more dimensional than the benign inland waters where you simply feel the headers or lifts and gusts or lulls and its second nature to adjust to those. Now the boat accelerates, slows, heels, rises, falls, rolls, and pitches with the waves too. It’s a lot to translate into a response on the wheel. 

The boat is never still. Even sitting here typing I feel sore muscles in my lower back and hips (QL, psoas?) working to keep me upright and from sliding down the seat. While I was cooking dinner and we were ripping along I complained about how hard it is just to stand upright and Greg grabbed me a cushion to put between my leg and the counter. I was skeptical but it helped a bunch and I was leaning hard enough against it that it didn’t fall. Ah, it’s the little things.

Food has been good- Leo made a massive pot of oatmeal, maybe Greg’s instructed ratio was reversed because Leo had to drain out water and then add more oats to get it not to be soup. He added applesauce, raisins, and it was so delicious we ended up eating it all, cups for each of us. I made too many pinto beans and hid them in the bottom of a taco salad bowl. Then the leftover beans ended up in Sarah P. Ashworth’s (anyone seen Ashworth?) pasta fagioli recipe- I have a picture of her full of flair handwritten recipe stored in my mind with her signature at the bottom. We’re getting lower and lower on fresh juicy crunchy things… some oranges, a few apples, a cucumber and carrots but we’ll make it.

Fishing has been happening- nothing exciting at all had occurred yet despite changing lures and messing with all the variables. Except for yesterday morning. All of a sudden the big reel started running, and fast. I ran back there and maxed the drag (a drag I can’t use my hand to pull out, this is a serious reel) but it KEPT RUNNING. before I could think well enough to grab the knife to preserve some line left on the reel it was all gone. I’m glad we didn’t have to fight whatever that was but super bummed to lose the line and gear, for the garbage made, and for the poor massive shark who will hopefully lose the lure in it’s jaw soon. My heart rate hasn’t been higher since we left. Now I need to make time to find the roll of fishing line that I threw somewhere “safe” on the boat. Good thing the handlline is still out, here fishy fishy fishy.

Yesterday we were enjoying our sunny afternoon and most everyone was hanging out in the cockpit when someone noticed a spot on the horizon! Somehow we hadn’t turned the AIS back to day mode from night and the plotter was zoomed too far to show it. A relatively small cargo ship was coming up on our starboard quarter.  “California” responded to our hail on the VHF and offered to give us more room, they were fine. Crazy to not be so alone out here. 

Other sightings of note: lazy cats, lots more dolphins, fleets of flying fish everywhere, and a curious booby who tried for a long time to land on the spinnaker only sliding down, but did almost land on the roach of the main. 

Current stats:

N 15 41.963 W 136 29.487

Temps: outdoor 76, indoor 85, sea 77.6

Currently moving 8-14 knots in 12-16 kts true wind at a heading of 205