Day 31
Eugh what a grim day! Well as I sit here to start
writing up today's blog it is half past 4 in the afternoon and we are sitting
in the cockpit with sunshine and a good amount of blue sky around us. That is
not what we have had for most of the day however! We awoke to a mix of cloud
and blue sky which soon greyed over. As we neared midday we watched an
approaching line squall from a dense grey sky. The first squall hit us at
midday and we then spent the rest of the afternoon reefing; unreefing and adjusting
sails as each new squall passed through. The wind never reached an
uncomfortable speed but we reduced sail each time to be cautious - not wanting
to get caught out. We made the most of the rain by gathering what we needed to
top up our cans; had a wash and did a little laundry.
It was surprisingly cool in the rain and the grey
skies added to the feeling that we were back in the Solent on a wet and windy
day; not in the tropics approaching Polynesia!
Jamie reeled in his fishing line when the first squall
approached and with the constant tending of the sails it has stayed in for the
day. I decided to make us up another Mac-pie as a Friday night treat. This is
baked macaroni cheese the way they serve it in the Caribbean and we plan to
have it with grilled tomatoes and beans. I started prepping it in the galley
when the wind died between squalls; and by the time I had pans full of boiling
pasta and molten cheese sauce bubbling away we were, once again slamming around
in a lively sea state. We often complain that it is hard to do any proper
exercise on passage but I am pretty sure the "galley workout" of
balancing kitchen knives; dodging flying implements; using hands and sometimes
elbows knees and even feet to stop ingredients sliding off the worktop, all
with the threat of boiling cheese slopping happily away on the gimbaled
stovetop is good for working on your core strength!! By the time I had it
assembled and in the oven I think I was sweating more than I ever have from any
kickboxing session or Pilates class!!
We came to sit in the cockpit and enjoy the little
bit of decent weather around 4 o'clock and I can already see the clouds
gathering for a fresh dowsing shortly. It looks like Friday night will be a bit
of a washout! Nevermind. With a bit of luck this will be our penultimate Friday
at sea! That's quite a nice thought!
The winds have remained around force 4 for most of
the day; we didn't pull up any trees overnight so our daily run is 121nm which is the bottom end of our daily average. Another 121nm closer to the Marquesas though so we are grateful for
that. We do miss the daily runs of 150nm that we used to regularly see in the Atlantic;
obviously that was with stronger winds and without a coating of goose-barnacles
on our bum but we covered a lot of miles very quickly. We haven't got anywhere
near those numbers in our time in this "peaceful ocean". Nevermind,
we have everything we need on-board; we keep ticking off miles and we will get
there eventually!
Happy Friday Everyone. Have a great weekend x
