We are all getting into a routine where we know our shifts, roles and places.   My body is actually getting used to the schedule, the strange sleep hours, the rocking of the boat and the light eating.  The food is great, but the portions are “normal” size rather than the standard “American” giant portions.   Maybe we will lose weight J Matt thinks the weather is getting warmer, but I am still wearing the same layers and clothes day and night.  The good news is that you don’t go through a variety of clothes or a large assortment of clothes as you just re-wear the same thing over and over again as it just doesn’t matter.  In fact I am sleep in the same clothes that I am wear during the day and to my surprise I have no issues with it at all.

During the early evening our 10 year old topping lift frayed through. Thank goodness the main had a single reef so the boom did not topple on top of our cockpit cover which housed our solar panels.  Unfortunately it meant that someone was going to have to go up the mast to get the end of the topping lift to re-tie it and Mother Nature decided to send us some big winds, waves and boat speed.  Of course it had to be Matt to go up.  Matt grabbed the boson chair and had determined to make a running hitch, but I insisted he wear his pfd and latch it on the line as well – three times the protection.  It was the most horrifying thing to see my sweet husband up 60’ from the deck in 20 knots of wind, 10 knots of boat speed and 12’ seas – what was I thinking?  He bounced around like a rag doll – it was awful.  There were several times when he was only hanging from his safety lines and his body was bouncing around the lines and off the mast as if it were made of rubber.  The good news is was able to repair the line and make it down without any serious injuries.  My prayers were answered.  After that was fixed and most of us were in bed, we had a massive storm that brought lots of lightening during Matt’s shift.  He quickly turned off all of our equipment and placed some items in the oven.  We had over 45 knots of wind, bare poles, rain, thunder and lightening – pretty darn scary.  For my shift it was just rain, very little thunder and no lightening but it was still a long shift keeping me on pins and needles

The grib files are downloaded each night and are reviewed and discussed – the problem is they are not accurate.  The file states that the wind is coming from one direction and we are experiencing something totally different.  Right now we have pretty big seas, steady and strong winds and decent boat speed, but that is supposed to change and often does throughout the day.  A discussion about head usage is always a gross topic, but a necessary conversation.  We have 2 different types of heads on our boat – one is the Vacuflush and the other is a standard pump type head that uses salt/sea water (you pump dry, then wet, then dry, then wet).  I find that if you repeat this process of dry/wet at least 3 times you can not only remove the contents but you can remove the majority of the smell.  However, the pump type head is always going to smell more than the Vacuflush as is uses salt water and does not work as efficiently or have the same sort of “storage”.  Ensuring that everyone is on the same page on proper usage of each head is imperative – it will save you from uncomfortable discussions, smell and worse.

Boys are still trying to catch something – lots of lines out and nothing jumping on the hook.

We awoke to “engine” problems – evidently the engines are not charging the batteries and the crew was up in “arms”.  I explained the problem to Matt who evaluated the situation, discovered the problem, fixed it.  I love that about Matt – he is able to look at a problem head on, think it through and fix it – calmly.    The best thing about the engines running and batteries charging is that we all got to take hot showers – it was the first time since we left the Gran Canarias.  Even though I had to learn to balance my back side against the escape hatch (yes, I was shooting the moon at Flipper) , I was able to wash my hair, shave my legs and refresh my body – it is amazing how much I miss a good shower. Of course, it was turning the water on, then off, then on, then off.  It is hard to clean long hair in these conditions – perhaps a shorter cut may be in order?

We saw our first sail boat today, but it was so far away I could barely make it out.  Although it has only been a few days since we left “civilization” it feels like a lot longer.  Seeing this first sail boat reminded me how “small” and “lonely” we are out here.  Knowing that there are over 500 boats making the same course would give one the impression that we would see more boats – but nooooooooooooo.