March 17: Day 5

Had a whold bowl of soup today and it tasted fine but afterward I was burping up the toxic frige smell and feeling queezy. Have thrown everything out that was not vacu-sealed. What a waste. the winds have started to build again but so have the seas, so despite the fact that we have double the wind we have lost over a knot of speed due to our S shaped path as we climb and then descend the 3-6 foot swells. The wind is coming from behind (our worst direction) and we have had to shorten sail considerably to accomodate the winds that are gusting up to 25 knotts. So we loose some speed and comfort but we are still able to maintain our direction. Every time I try to put up more sail we get a crazy gust and the boat is overpowered. A ripped sail out here would mean disaster so its better to go the conservative rought, but it is hard. On a trip of three thousand miles an average of five knotts would get you there in six hundred hours, or twenty five days while a speed of six knotts would get you there in five hundred hours, only twenty one days. Keeping in mind that each knott of speed that you average can make the difference of four days of travel time it is hard not to loose patience and hurry.