Day 7
Pearl of Persia
Andrew Lock
Sun 25 Nov 2012 13:09
I think the boat and crew are starting to get into the rhythm of life at
sea. The swell has abated somewhat and we can get on with more normal
things, trimming the sails, making running repairs, cooking, reading. The
ocean seems deserted, Saw our first boat yesterday, a sail boat, about 4
miles away but didn't make contact and a cargo ship appeared on our AIS
system but we didn't see it. The weather has a definite tropical feel to it,
but the constant breeze makes it comfortable, idyllic even. Last night
sitting on deck on my night watch with the moon out, and stars forever, it
felt that we were finally away.
Each morning we find a few flying fish that have jumped on deck during the
night, very similar to sardines and even a couple of squid. Flying fish for
breakfast.
Running down wind puts quite a strain on the sails and lines and yesterday
afternoon discovered one of the sheets had almost worn through from chaffe
(You don't have just 'ropes' on a sail boat They all have different names
according to what they do. The generic name is 'lines' but the ones
connected to the sails are called 'sheets', those that hoist the sail up the
mast are 'halyards' , 'shrouds' hold the mast up and a 'rode' is the line on
the anchor) Spent an hour re-running everything to eliminate the rubbing
points.