March 31: Day 19

The Doldrums

Well, we have had our share of light wind but last night took the cake. The winds died down by the begining of my 9PM watch. We were able to make some pathetic headway: 1.5-2 knotts. So we perserveared. By the time that Brett came up at Midnight even 1.5 knotts was becoming cause for cellebration. Disgussted, I went to bed. Things did not improve and when I came up at 3AM it was still the same. The boat could not keep enough wind in the sails to keep her nose pointed the right direction and the sails were making a lot of noise. The weather files suggested that there was no relief for the next 48 hours. Our logs suggested that we had drifted three miles East in the last four hours. I was funtzing with the sail and trying to get some speed but the wind would dance around like a leprechaun.With all the comotoiom, Brett woke up. He asked me if I wanted to turn on the engine.

We had decided not to use the engine under any circumstance and to sail the whole way. Hell yea, I want to use the engine! So we motored for four hours. Still, pretty good. We have heard of other boats that budgetted thirty gallons to motoring, if we do four hours I feel okay about that. Today, although it was sunny, we had two squalls. These are crazy little buggers that come out of nowhere and run you down in five minutes. There is barely time to change sail so we have been just turning the boat to run with the wind when it is blowing hard as these do not last. One minute its 8 knotts of wind and the next its 25, on the beem and a torential downpour. We rush to close all the hatches that have been open to let in the breeze. After the squall is the lull. Today it lasted three hours, ughh! But we are now at two degrees south of the equator and I think we are out of the weeds. Sometimes our chart plotter tells us that we have sixty eight hours (Under three days!). Then it goes to one hundred and twenty hours, it is very entertaining to watch the time and distance tick by.

Have been talking to some other boats on the net and I feel a kinship with anyone who can do this passage, even though Brett and I are the puppies in the pack. I think that those who are willing to endure this kind of adventure must have admairable qualities. I look forward to putting faces with the names. On the down side the toxic fumes in the frige have now begun to penetrate even my vacu sealed items that have been in there for too long. It is hit and miss. But I just can’t throw this food out without preparing and tasting it. Then throwing it overboard. I shudder to think how much money has been wasted on food spoilage due to the toxic stench. At this point it has to be at least five hundred dollars. On the whole it is fine, though, I have so much rice, beans, flour and canned food we could live forever. Have not refrigerated my good cheese, thankfully. Now I am just waiting for the mold.