A few days in; all is good on board Two Drifters and we’re really getting into the swing of things now. Despite the swell, we quickly got our sea legs and have no problem bounding around the boat as it weaves up and down in the waves. No seasickness to report yet either
Fortunately, getting back into doing night shifts feels a little like memory foam - the body and mind have quickly adjusted into the pattern we perfected when we were at sea for four weeks, crossing the Pacific from Panama to French Polynesia.
While we both enjoy being up on the bridge during the day; one of us needs to be on watch at night to keep an eye on the sails, the weather and any other vessels. So, after supper, we each do a five-hour watch. I start around 7pm and then Skipper takes over at midnight, doing the red-eye shift.
At 5am, I’m back on the bridge and we have a cup of tea together, catch up with the overnight news and emails a nd then he totters off to the cabin for 40 winks, while I enjoy the day dawning. I must admit, this is my favourite time, watching the skyline gradually get lighter and the sun peak up over the horizon (unless there are too many storm clouds in the way)!
So far, sleep has been easy to come by when off-watch, and we’re getting used to sleeping for a just a few hours twice a day. We do have some rather good silicone earplugs, which help to drown-out the noise of the waves slapping against the hull.
After a period of little or no wind, on Sunday we finally found the trade winds and are now rollicking along with speeds between 7 – 9 knots (which is above our average of 6kts). Both white sails are out and the gennaker (the light wind sail) has been put away for now.
And finally…While we’ve not landed any fish yet, the fishing line has had an interesting encounter, firstly with a shark - which thankfully we lost - and then with an eight-foot marli n, which we released as it was too large to land on our decks in the choppy seas. We’ve had to take the lines back in for now, partly due to the choppy seas and also so we can concentrate on sailing fast while we have the wind.
Total miles sailed in 24 hours: 123 miles
Date: Sunday 8 August
Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.
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