On passage

Hello!

Today was a lovely day on passage - winds (after a squally night during Max's watch) were cooperative - and the sea state has come down significantly, so that even though we were close reaching all day, and the boat was heeled, the motion was much more steady and comfortable. We are getting into our groove.

The kids and I had the morning watch, and we passed the time singing :) After reading lots of stories about people making music in their cockpit, it was so nice to be doing it ourselves. I have a couple of song books that have lots of old camp songs, spirituals, and folk songs in them, and the kids flipped through picking songs they knew as they went. Once we got to the end of the book, we went back to the beginning again. The last time I "sang through" one of the books was with Allison in Mexico. So many good memories can be caught up in one song ...

With three adults (and a working autopilot) we are all getting enough rest, and the nights are reasonably easy. We stand 4ish hour watches, and everyone gets eight hours of sleep. During the day, we take naps as the opportunity arises. Max has been kind enough to take the "squally watch" from about midnight to 4am each night, which both Doug and I appreciate...

Did I mention that the sea state has come down?? It is soooo much more enjoyable sailing when the motion is comfortable and the boat is not pitching and rolling. I keep thinking, "so *this* is why people go sailing for fun"! What a difference from some of our other passages.

I read a memoir this week of the man who started the Grameen Bank (Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus - he started the micro credit movement). This is not the surprising part. The surprising part is that because I had been raving about the man and his ability to see a need and take action to meet it, Victoria picked up the book and she is now about 100 pages into it. This has led to lots of conversations about how people are treated around the world, the roles of men and women, poverty and how we can help, etc. I am wondering what other non-fiction books might catch her eye...

Dinner tonight was canned pork that Nancy and I prepared before we left Mexico. We have saved our canned meat "for a rainy day" and now we have to eat it before we arrive in NZ, rain or no rain! We had "Grampy beef" last night, and we will have it twice more before we arrive. Part of me actually hopes for an extra day on passage because it will give us more time to eat the food that we have left (although that is a very small part, and really, I just want to get to our destination regardless of what is still in the cupboards)! That being said, since I gave two grocery bags of dried food (beans, etc) to Lil Explorers, who are staying in Tonga for the off-season, we don't have much "contraband" left aboard. We have one jar of La Cruz honey to finish, but that is not exactly a hardship! Thankfully lentils and white flour are both OK, because I still have several kilos of each. I am not sure I will ever enjoy provisioning for six months at a time, but we have actually done pretty well, with minimal spoilage, and not too much extra.

The wind is supposed to drop off tonight before filling in from the west for the end of our trip. We'll be motoring tomorrow, which means hot water for showers, dishes, laundry, etc. We are caught up on chores, but hot water makes such a difference!

That's about all the news for tonight.
Love to all,
Elizabeth
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At 25/11/2014 11:13 AM (utc) SV Fluenta was 29°30.00'S 174°48.00'E
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At 25/11/2014 1:10 PM (utc) SV Fluenta was 29°38.45'S 174°46.68'E

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