Author: Scott
It is a great feeling to be moving again. The trade winds are amazing, continuous and fresh, they spoil us. Never before have we enjoyed such uninterrupted sailing, and our hearts sink a little if we manage to drop below three knots.
We are building up quite a routine these days. I am up every day at 0700 to take a position and usually pass this information on to the Amigo Net. Next is breakfast with me usually opting for cereal and Pam often choosing a Zone Bar. Mornings tend to be personal time either individually reading, or meandering away in personal projects. At 1130 we take another position and then create a YotReps position report to be emailed so our web page will be updated with our whereabouts, and then we answer and prepare emails. We also check the Coast Guard frequencies for weather (if we can get it). At about 1300 we send all of this information off into the either via the SSB radio modem and through the wonders of technology the information is disseminated. We are currently having the best luck sending to the West Panama SailMail station. It is a strange feeling being closer to Panama than San Diego. Usually about now we start thinking of lunch. Lunch is usually a lighter meal and tends to be served cold, since it is often too hot to cook. Today we had soda crackers and peanut butter, with a can of fruit cocktail, and let it be known that fruit cocktail is seriously underrated. I love the stuff. I was thinking just the other day that my land based shopping will be different in the future, because of renewed loves such as fruit cocktail, peanut butter and Velveeta cheese product. After lunch we usually work on projects and then take a boat tour to look for potential problems, and to get a change of scenery. When 1500 hits we settle down in the cockpit with each of us perched in their respective cushioned chairbacks and we read together. After two hours of reading we may have to go shopping in the V-berth for dinner groceries or for the following day’s meals. Also, every other day is egg turn day, when we flip the eggs to keep them fresh. Once things are ready for the evening meal we settle down for our “chill hour” and listen to music and sometimes enjoy a little nip. This is usually the time of day where we talk, plan, and spend time together. After the “chill hour” we prepare the evening meal, tonight it was fried rice with chicken, water chestnuts, and even canned peas. Pam would not touch the peas or chestnuts. After dinner there is the nuisance of dishes, we sometimes watch a movie on the computer or we just hang out in the cockpit and look at the sky, or we start our watch schedule early and end the day.
Today after dinner we tuned into frequency 8.188.00 on the SSB radio to try to catch the Puddle Jumpers Net and for the first time we heard our friends from Zihautanejo who left for the South Pacific before us. We talked to both Grasal and Costa Vida and it looks like we will all be in Tahiti at the same time!
From 1600 to midnight we had squalls that continually crept up and dumped rain on Tournesol and blasted us with wind. We would just open all the ports and hatches for air and we would have to close them all again. We may be out of the ITCZ but we are sure still getting rainy equatorial weather.
Fish Report – Another day of no luck even with my collected dead fish bait! Fish 10 – Tournesol 0.
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