TGIF- in Mariner speak means: Thank Goodness it Floats!

 

Today: getting it RIGHT;  not only good, but, GREAT circles; where are our manners?; sparks are flying now; 

 

Our current location is: 22 32,65N, 22 47.08W

 

We continue to make steady progress to the south and the west, however, not as much to the west as we would like. We don’t have access to the fleet viewer, but, would guess that we are amongst the southern most boats in the ARC. As mentioned in one of the earlier missives, we were not going to take the Northerly route which, although faster, comes with potential for heavier seas and stronger winds. As we are not in a hurry—why race to a marina where you can sit in your boat with hundreds of others—and the winds have been almost perfect in terms of strength to allow us some of the best sailing we have ever experienced. Having said that, we do at some point have to ”turn right” and start making progress towards the Caribbean.  We think our time is coming... here is an extract from our weather forecast for the next few days:

 

Despite our yacht master training in weather and our two day weather course with the man who wrote the text book, about all that I really get is “Allowing for a Gybe to the south”... which means we get to turn right and begin to ride more consistent winds coming from the East.. yippee! According to the forecast, this wind shift should occur tomorrow around noon local time so set your watches to join in with the experience – where ever you are, just turn right (unless it is down a one way street).

 

We have always had a special affinity for circles— some of our favourite things are in the shape of circles—cheerios, donuts, tortellini, calamari and diamond rings (guess who chose that one!).. Bill (the old softie) wanted to include family circles, but, we thought it was just too smaltzy so we won’t mention it. In any event, circles are important to our navigation as it is necessary to incorporate the understanding of one of the biggest circles...the earth (ok so it is a sphere, give us a break). Because the world is round, it is not as simple as drawing a straight line between two points to determine the shortest distance. According to Mike, in early days of aviation (no, he did  not know the Wright Brothers personally), the shortest distance between two destinations was found by using a piece of string and a physical globe. Over time, the technology has improved, but, they were always referred to as GREAT CIRCLE ROUTES. We have been looking at this ourselves using a bit of navigation kit and have discovered that, despite traveling about 120 nautical miles today, we will have roughly the same distance to travel tomorrow as we would have  had we been able to turn right today. Weird, huh? So when we TURN RIGHT, we will have 2260 nm to go.

 

This also means that there is no need to bust a gut tonight and with the winds anticipated to get as high as 30 knots (gusts) and the seas are 2 – 3 meters, we have added yet another reef to both the main sail and the genoa- any more and we are at risk of going backwards. Making it all the easier to enjoy tonight’s culinary coup—Jane is making us Saltimbocca-- pork tenderloin and Serrano ham (normally it is prosciutto, but, we were in Spain) with a Madeira wine sauce, roasted vegetables, rice and sweet potatoes from yesterday’s thanksgiving meal. Again, the trials that we are forced to deal with while on the high seas.

 

Speaking of Thanksgiving dinner, we realised that, while we gushed over the culinary prowess of Bill with his Thanksgiving dinner and his dessert co-miracle worker Jane’s pumpkin pie tarts, we forgot the real reason Thanksgiving is so important. It is a great opportunity to reflect and say thanks to those closest to us, our family and friends, for all that they add to our lives. So, we all would like to say thanks to you and to let you know that without you our lives would not be as interesting and fulfilled. Thanks!

 

Here’s one for the boys at Magdalen College School in Oxford that are following our journey. When Libeccio is passing through the water at night, it looks like there are “sparks” flying off of the hull and into the water. These sparks also seem to trail the boat. When the spark hits the water it is joined by a lot of other little lights that swirl around and then disappear.  They are only visible at night so we get a light show during our otherwise dull night watches. Pretty cool, huh (or should i say it’s “sick” as apparently that is how to describe something that is, er , well..cool).  If you think you know, please send your answer to Libeccio {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com, we check our emails twice daily- get it correct and we will mention your name in the blog. Answer tomorrow.