***Life on board***
It is nearing 4:30pm onboard. This morning I took the 5am to 8am watch. This watch is agreed to be one of the best watches due to the fact that you get some light but it is still nice and cool. And you get to see the sunrise. On my morning watch. I took note of the following things floating by:
-6:19am A black flip flop, overturned
-6:32am A broken black bucket
-6:47am Something yellow
-6:58am A pair of corks floating together
-7:01am The other flip flop
-7:14am A white piece of foam and a waterbottle
In addition, we have seen lots of birds despite being far our to sea. Also, as of today, there is a large brown and grey moth about 2 inches long hitching a ride on one of our backstays. Perhaps a stowaway from Panama, I saw him flying around this morning and he has been resting on the aft deck ever since.
We have been able to sail all day today although a wind shift last night (see weather) has changed life on board a little. We are now sailing into the wind and no longer with it. Our house is therefore leaning a little to starboard which (as you already know, if you kept up with Trevor's post about the effects of heel on boat life) causes us to have to close the drain for the sink lest it flood the galley meaning that dirty dishwater must be scooped out manually. It also means that anyone venturing into the head may have to coordinate with the helmsman if they wish to have any water with their flush.
The other major downside to sailing upwind (also called "beating") is that unless the water is perfectly flat, which it is not here, (actually its quite choppy right now) then there will be spray coming over the windward rail which may or may not make it into your lap as you sit reading in the cockpit. This also necessitates that the windows on the port side (in the V-berth and the head) remain closed as well as the two cabin hatches on top so that we don't get everything inside the boat wet. This in turn makes the boat hot and muggy down below. It's not nearly as bad as if we were running the engine (knock on wood) mind you but it is still a little uncomfortable.
For breakfast this morning we had cereal (Rasin Bran) and milk (powdered milk) and for lunch, FISH. This time a baked fish dish with a mango salsa (mango, onion, red peppers, garlic some oregano and a pinch of salt piled on top of 4 big fillets in some oil). For dinner...you guessed it. As soon as this is sent, I'm on dinner duty.
***The Boat***
A benefit (yes there are some) of sailing upwind is that our apparent wind (the wind that we feel on deck) is greater than the actual wind speed due to the fact that we are moving. This makes the wind generator very happy and we are charging a lot more now. The battery bank is currently at 70% of full and we expect it will improve if this wind keeps up (knock on wood).
***Communication***
We successfully checked in once again to the "Panama Connection" ham radio net this morning at 8:30am to report our updated information.
***Weather***
Last night the wind died briefly and filled back in eventually from the south. We are now sailing a course of about 240 degrees magnetic and are glad to be making south and westward progress without the use of "the iron tops'l". The wind is currently out of the S at around 15knots and we have swapped the #1 headsail for the #3 which is working out well.
Position:
2 deg 45' North
83 deg 40' West
More to come
Alan and Crew