Day 25 - Passage to the Caribbean
Misterx
Sat 26 Apr 2025 01:17
25/04/25
8:30 pm
Day 25
North Atlantic Ocean
DTD to Trinidad: 1,145 NM (117NM)
Jogging along today, still a bit rolly and jumpy in the morning, but by the afternoon, the sea and the waves have settled down and it is a much improved situation, especially down below. The flattening out of the water means that we go a little bit faster too, clocking up 6.5 and even 7 knots boat speed on the surf, a real mood lifter!
Water in the bilge seems under control, no change in the amounts collected, thankfully, still monitoring every 4 hours.
The Sargasso weed is still being a nuisance, but Ian's weed clearing device is proving remarkably efficient, contributing to the lift in speed too, I am sure. We might need to patent it! Next year we'll be millionaires!
The waves have been up to 2.6 metres according to our Weather Guru, it doesn't sound much but when you see them hurtling down to the back of the boat at full speed, it is quite intimidating. Not spent much time outside, there is still too many rogues waves and the cockpit is being splashed every so often... Far too much salty water showers opportunities for my liking and the skies are a bit grey.
The flattened seas make it a lot easier for cooking, so the pressure cooker has been out today. Fresh vegetables are running low but we still have some beautiful butternut squashes, onions and my pickled carrots are doing well... and I found this button mushrooms in butter tin... risotto it is then!
I must say the pressure cooker has been a very useful tool, saving on gas, secure on the stove with the lid firmly in place, one item to wash up, saving water. We've always been big fans of one pot cooking and this is the ultimate pot for it. Perfect for people who don't like cooking nor washing up. It all goes in and does its thing for a few minutes, literally a few minutes, cooking rice takes 6mn once the pressure is on. Every French household has one of these at home, it is the first gift you will receive when you are setting up your first home. A rite of passage into adulthood, a bit like every French girl getting an Hermes silk scarf, at some point, the mark of grown up status (mine came well into my 40's! That's telling you something!).
The pressure cooker has provided the soundtrack to most of my childhood's evenings. Sitting at the dining room table, doing homework, the low hissing of the pressure cooker releasing the wonderful smells of dinner to come. A truly Proustian moment! Funnily enough, I found one of the first original recipe book for the "Cocotte Minute", circa 1965 edition, in French, in a New Zealand book swap, of all places. Wonderfully retro recipes, the very same that my mother used for decades and is still using no doubts. Needless to say, it is the only cookbook on board!
And the risotto turned out beautiful.
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