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LOG ENTRY DATE: October 22, 2003 Back at sea again! Can't believe how good it feels. . . guess after all of that cruising along the coast, this feels like we've been set free again to travel anywhere we want. As if to prove the point, we were joined on our first morning by a set of dolphins who cavorted off our bow for an hour, as if to welcome us back. Took leave of Rota and Juanona on Monday, October 20th, as we hoped. First, though, we performed a fair amount of prep work on the boat (going aloft to check the rigging, stowing anchors and other gear, sealing leaky hatches, transferring fuel, etc.), and attended a great BYOW (no wines over $3.50 allowed) wine-tasting party on Saturday that Lynnie threw for the whole marina. And, more importantly, on Sunday night, a birthday celebration for Tom, who just passed the half-century mark! We've also stocked the boat heavily, planning for 5 weeks of being at sea, including the Canaries to the Caribbean leg. We have all but fresh food for that portion, which we'll purchase prior to leaving the Canaries. Our first target is Madeira, which is north and west of the Canaries. On board are Tom and myself, with crew Lincoln Fuller and Jack McBride. Lincoln is a friend and an accomplished sailor from home (Yarmouth, Maine), and Jack is back for his second shot on Chase during the trip, having helped us get her to the Azores on our first leg in June. . . it's great to have him back, though we suspect he must have a streak of masochism in his nature. . .. This evening, our second one out, we finally left the coast of Europe behind us. Although Madeira lies on a course that leads southwest from Rota, a direct rhumb line approach won't work: the winds on the first day were from the southwest. To make things a little more complicated, the forecasts call for that same direction in the area of the southern Spanish and Portugal coasts. So, we had to sail (beat, really) due west along those coasts, and out into open sea. There, the winds will turn more northerly, and we'll turn to the south as soon as we know we can sail to Madeira, even with a potentially southwesterly wind (i.e. when we are roughly due north of the islands). Tonight, the strategy seems to have paid off. As soon as we passed the southwestern corner of Portugal, at Cabo St. Vincente, the winds obligingly turned to the north, and we are currently racing along on a beam reach at 7.5 knots. And, in passing Cabo St. Vincente, we've left behind the busy traffic lanes that ships use to turn the corner when traveling from Gibraltar to northern Europe (we played dodge-em with some container ships several times today). So, we're alone, with only the rush of the boat through the dark water, and the bright stars beginning to show as the moonless night clears of clouds. Besides being vindicated meteorogically, it's also been a big day for us gastronomically, as JACK CAUGHT A FISH! For those of you who read my original logs of the Portland to Azores leg of our trip, you may recall that Jack was not the most successful of fisherman on the way over. In fact, he was as least successful as a fisherman could possibly be. Nonetheless, our respect for him as a person remained undiminished, even as he flung himself headlong into the fruitless task of launching lure after lure over the side of the boat. Now, we can only wonder if the real reason he came all the way back to sail yet another leg with us had something to do with that unfulfilled urge as a hunter-gatherer to feed his flock. Regardless, the fish in question was a keeper: a tuna of about 6 pounds. Certainly enough to replenish the large can of the same food that we opened for luncheon sandwiches this afternoon! It came up and over the side of the boat, and Jack wasted no time or emotion in dispatching it. . . in fact, he seemed downright eager, as the cockpit quickly came to resemble a crime scene, complete with "splatter patterns" and a blunt-trauma murder weapon. All this while—as cook of the trip—he prepared us an amazing dinner of pork roast from the pressure cooker, in a beer sauce with onions. What a provider! Our hero! Although we've only been out to sea for 2 days, Chase continues to show that she is still in fine shape for an old girl. . . all systems are working well and she's moving along as fast as she can. We're crewing her on a simple watch system: one man watches that last 3 hours each. The result is a restful 3 hours on, 9 hours off schedule for all hands, provided we don't run into heavy weather—in which case we'll double up on people in the cockpit. The plan is to be well rested—and obviously well fed—by the time we reach Madeira this weekend! |
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