More squalls

Gudrun V
Axel Busch
Tue 17 Apr 2012 16:43
Tuesday, 2012-04-17, 11:30 local (17:30 UTC), 3:00 S, 94:23 W, COG 250, SOG 7.5kn, Wind 15kn SE

Yesterday afternoon passed completely uneventful. We were mostly busy holding on to things and not getting tossed all over the rolling boat. At night squalls passed by and pushed us further west, though at least we managed to avoid the rains this time by adjusting the course in time - so much for sleeping. The mainsail is (still) in the 2nd reef and my guess is that it'll stay like this for a while. We're trying to head further south, but wind, waves, and current don't let us. I asked Liz how she's feeling and she says pretty shitty. I replied that to me she looks as beautiful as ever, which made her laugh, so I don't think it's all that bad. Cheap trick, I know.

It's just that the heel and jerky movements of the boat discourages any activities, so we kind of don't know what to do with ourselves other than read, sleep, and watch out. I started on the book "Emergency Navigation", which is full of usefull advice, so the reviews at Amazon told me. Only I'm 40% through the book now and all I'm reading is what awesome things you can do with just a watche and sticks and that I'll learn in later chapters exactly how to do it. I wonder how much later, because I'm running out of patience with the author David Burch. Didactically very disappointing, but I'm determined to make it to those magical chapters and finish the book. And then I guess I'll have to write it out in some recipies of my own that I understand and start practicing. And don't forget about the French of course ;-).

But now I have to dig out my shortwave radio and tune in to 8137kHz, where apparently some German sailors set up a radio network. I won't be able to actively participate because we only have a receiver, but I guess it will be interesting to hear where the other boats are and what they are up to.