Saturday 6th May - no longer in the tropics
Awelina of Sweden
James Collier
Sat 6 May 2017 16:59
The wind continues to be F4 to F5 from due east so progress is fine but it remains lumpy. We crossed the Tropic of Cancer last night and already the nights are appreciably cooler and shorter, both of which are welcome. Sea boots were rooted out from the locker for the fist time in 2 years. Just before nightfall a large pod of dolphins came to play in the bow wave. All uniform grey and quite small - possibly juveniles.
An illustration of how lumpy it was last evening we opened the hatch over the galley for some air, but 2 mins later a rogue wave washed the boat from stem to spray-hood, and gallons poured below onto the cooker. No damage was done and the cooker probably needed a wash anyway. It stayed lumpy all night with slamming every couple of minutes but is rather better now.
Today so far the major event has been preparing ship-made pickled gherkins to use up the cucumbers got on St Martin before they go bad. Boiling up vinegar and spices and dill filled the morning with gymnastics as much as it did with cooking. Hopefully it will be calm enough to make bread tomorrow morning.
Sextant sights worked out better when taken at dusk using Sirius and Arcturus (which cross at a convenient angle and are easily identified before it’s too dark to see the horizon) than they do with the sun, but as we go north, particularly as now out of the tropics, the sun ill once more become the more useful heavenly body.