Transatlantic Passage

Transatlantic Passage

This one was the longest passage yet this trip. 17.5 days, longer even than the Bermuda-Azores leg, that took 16 days. It was not the easy, smooth, never-touch-a-sail passage I expected. One day into the trip, the wind did and we had to motor until it came back. So much for consistent 10-15 knots. Then a couple days later, we caught our first fish, but we lost it trying to get it aboard. The wind picked up after a couple more days, and then we had some rough seas. The wind wasn't as steady as expected either, wavering over twenty to thirty degrees. So much for always the same direction. We got too far south going straight downwind, so we had to alter course northwards, which led to assisting the Monitor and getting water over the sides. So much for smooth and dry. We caught another fish, a mahi-mahi, and managed to get it aboard and have it for dinner. It was delicious, and the wind died down a little too. A few days afterwards the waves were still on the quarter (to port or starboard of the stern, but aft of the side), and we caught another fish, this one a tuna. When we tasted the meat we confirmed our guess that it was yellow fin tuna, and absolutely delicious. We had it in steaks marinated and lightly fried over a bed of rice, a perfect meal. Everything became kind of plain and unremarkable after that, until day eighteen, when I woke up to find Barbados on the starboard bow.





P.S. Dad wanted me to put in a remark about our watermaker, and here it is. On Dad's last trip he had to carefully monitor his water tanks and put tight restrictions on water uses, because he didn't have a watermaker. On this trip we had no additional restrictions besides our normal rules, and we dropped anchor with full tanks.
--Orion Date
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T