Tuesday May 20, 2008 Gulf of Mexico. Lat 28° 44.18’ N, Long 87° 21.34’ W

Sailing at last! Yesterday we motor sailed in the morning until we reached the Gulfort Channel and since then (around noon) we have been sailing. We cleared the Seabuoy South of Ship Island yesterday late afternoon and for a while were enjoying the sail. But then the wind picked up and we both realized that we needed to change our headsail for the newly repaired number two. It wasn’t what we wanted to do so soon after getting into the Gulf. We did it together and everything went well though my foul weather bottoms are definitely not waterproof and my shorts were soaked after the change. About half an hour later we put a reef in the mainsail. Despite having to reef, the wind was from the Southwest (unusual in the Gulf) which suited us fine.

At 8:00pm we started our watch system. Janet stood the first three hour watch and I came on at 11:00pm. By that time the wind had dropped some and I took out the reef in the main. Since then we have not had to change sails though we have altered course a few times by adjusting the wind vane steering lines and, as a result, had to trim sails.

It’s now noon on Tuesday. We saw the last of the Gulf oil rigs early this morning and since then it’s been fair winds, blue skies with some fluffy cumulus, and easy sailing. That said, it’s our first day at sea and we are just getting our sea legs. Earlier Janet plotted our position on the chart and that made her a little queasy. I think the same may be happening to me as I sit below writing this. Usually we try and minimize our time below decks during the first day or so as it helps. However neither of us has come close to being seasick which is great.

Hopefully I will be able to write more tomorrow or the next day.

Jeremy