During the first three days we had been sailing in the direction of SSW aiming to get down to 3 or 4 degrees South where there should be more constant wind blowing from ESE. The wind during our first three days has been intermittent and when there was wind, it was blowing at about 7 to 8 knots per hour which has us moving at 3.5 to 4 knots, a bit less than our anticipated average speed of 5.5 knots. Perhaps I was a bit too optimistic with my calculations.
On the third day we were well down past three degrees South and the wind picked up as expected and was blowing at about 10 to 12 knots. Yesterday we sailed 124.4 miles, a little closer to what we had been hoping for.
We are getting daily emails on our satellite phone from our new friend Andy on S/V Spruce. We report in our position to him and he replies with information on where they are and any weather info he has for our course for the next couple of days. A very nice bit of information and very kind of him to have us 'on his radar' sort of speak. This supplements the updates Eric sends to us from Passage Weather which is the website we have been using for wind and waves since we started sailing.
We are now in our fourth day at sea and have settled somewhat into a routine. We take our main meal at lunch so that Jens can get to bed around 6pm. He takes a late afternoon snack and then makes himself a sandwich during his shift. I prefer to have a midnight snack of popcorn or crackers or something sweet right now as I am still feeling a little queasy. Still looking for those sea legs!
It is good to have routines, because the days can be quite long. There is not much to see out here at sea. We look forward to charging the batteries at 8:30AM, sending an email to Andy with our position at 9AM, noting our position on my iPad at 10AM with an email to Eric and Michelle every third day, morning nap for Jens at 11AM, dinner at 1PM, afternoon nap for me at 4PM, receiving weather reports from Andy at 4ish, another quick charge of batteries between 5 and 6PM and then the night shift starts. Emails from Eric, Michelle and Nick have been the highlights of this week. It's nice to hear from the folks back home.
We spend most of our free time reading. I have been browsing through the book, "How to Sail Around the World" which we had bought long before we started this journey. I had started reading it before but it seems that every chapter is wrought with stories of ships sinking, capsizing, running aground, losing their masts, booms, rudders, sails and whatnot that I was almost put off going to sea. Looking though it again makes me think that perhaps we have been a little too casual about our state of readiness. I really hope we don't have to endure the types of things I have been reading about. Can you imagine crashing your boat into a sperm whale or seeing a 35 foot wall of water about to crash down on you or losing your rudder to some odd bit of debris in the water and having to rig up hand steering for the whole trip!
But let's be reasonable. Those massive storms are more typical of the Atlantic, or the South or North seas. Much less likely here at the equator. After all, there are at least 200 boats on this same journey. And sailing those boats are people just like us. Not necessarily hardened sea-faring rogues with years of experience sailing in the most difficult places and in the worst of conditions. Those salty bastards that are more comfortable in rain slickers and rubber boots than they are in shorts and deck shoes. We'll be all right. Yes, we will!
It is now the end of our first week and we have covered about 900 nautical miles which puts us pretty much on track for a 23 day crossing. The winds picked up nicely these last few days but then so have the size of the swells, making me a little nauseous now and again. I think my Indian blood is reminding me that I am a girl of the woods, not a girl of the sea!
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