Day Eleven: All is Well

It is eleven days into the passage from South Georgia bound for the Cape Verdes. Most of our long passages have been about fifteen days long. Eleven days into one of them, and the end would be in sight. (Not literally.) We still have a long way to go; however, to me it does not feel like it has been eleven days. The time has flown, generally. I may have had a few aggravatingly boring moments, but in all, it does not feel like we are almost one-third of the way through this epic offshore journey. It may have been the excitement between the howling winds of a week ago and my birthday, or the fact that for the first eight days, I kept thinking that we were only three to four days in the passage, that made the time seem to go by quickly.

Sila is gradually moving north. There are plenty of signs to prove that. For one, the weather is getting hotter. Being used to the South Georgian cool air, the humid heat is even harder to bear. Also, there are no more Albatrosses. A few days ago, Porter announced that we would be far enough north for him to start fishing once the Albatrosses went away or we saw flying fish. Now the trolling line is out and every morning we find a flying fish on the deck. Finally, as I write this, our position is 30°44. 5' South 28°21.8' West.

While things around us are changing, we have settled into the daily offshore pattern. The seas are not too rough and the wind is not dead or roaring, but somewhere in the middle. The actual sailing is really nice and fun. We are close hauled, which means we are putting the bow of Sila as far into the wind as possible while still going an acceptable speed, at least 5 knots. This point of sail is really fun but there is a down side: namely, everything is tipped, making it hard to live normally. But other than the heat and tipping, all is well on board Sila. - JackRabbit