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Arkouda - Fwd: Day 4 -- or is it Day 5? Happy Thanksgiving!




Thanksgiving!  Well almost, the sun is not quite up yet.

Pre dawn yesterday, just as the sky was beginning to lighten up but before the sun had broken the horizon, Sean and I braved the rain to lower the the Parasailor.  Piece of cake!  I am not sure what we were worried about!  See Brady, we really didn't need you!  It helped that for the first time we had had written instructions on how to hoist, retrieve, and trim the sail.  May I also request written instructions on how to tack with two--that part didn't go as well.  My thanks to the support that Parasailor provided to the ARC participants, even for those people who had already purchased the sail in a different country.  

We tried to motor a direct route toward the Cape Verde Islands after dropping the sail yesterday morning.  Hey wait a minute, wasn't this supposed to be a downwind sail?  (This is when the wind and waves are from behind, which is very smooth and easy, especially on a catamaran, thus the expression Fair Winds and Following Seas).  Well, the wind was directly in our face.  We had reports that the rest of the fleet had easy winds (still in their face, but at least lighter). However, if you recall we didn't follow the pack, its just not Sean's style.  So here we were, on the fringes of a low, now trying to work our way out of it, with that low sucking all the wind from the south into it.  The seas had been heading south for weeks, but now the wind was blowing against them creating much steeper faces.  On top of that it was blowing 16 kts..  We turned on one motor, only went 3 knots.  Turned on a second motor, now up to 5, but waves splashing over us as we pounded into them.  We gave up, decided wind was too good not to sail, so turned sideways to put our sails out (we can't sail closer than 45 degrees to the wind, which should give us an angle of 90 degrees when turning to the other side.  Somehow the math does not work, we need 130 degrees to tack through.  On top of that, catamarans pull the wind further forward, so than you have ease off more.  I know this is a long explantation, but all the sudden we were headed due west again!  No...we need to go south first.  We spent an hour or so on this tack, than turned the other way off the wind.  Now we are headed toward Africa!  Not quite Sierra Leone, but close.  (Don't worry, Mom.  The coast is at least 200 miles away, which is a long way in the ocean!)  I didn't mind Morocco, I can't wait to someday explore South Africa, and the east coast would be amazing, but not what we planned on this trip.    

Arkouda likes an upwind sail--we reefed (made smaller) both the main and the jib, created our own wind of 18 to 23 kts, and flew along all day at 8-9 knots.  This is not the smoothest way to sail, the boat leaps out on the crest of wave, and dives down in the trough, averaging 8-9 knots all day.  It is now 4:30 Thanksgiving morning, the wind is dying to 9 - 10 knots, the seas are smoother, and we are still sailing along at about 6 knots.  There is an incredible upside down crescent moon--he is smiling at me--the stars are amazing, and the planets look huge.  I can see a faint haze of the milky way showing through--I have not seen skies like this since we lived in Mora, NM.  I always thought that you needed the 9000 foot elevation to get this clear of a view, but the lack of the usual humidity haze the ocean seems to have, it is very close.

   We have a turkey breast out to thaw, have pumpkin and planned on making a pie, but forgot that we don't have a pie pan!   Will it work in a square casserole dish?  We searched both Lanzarote         and Las Palmas for cranberries--and after giving up, found them at the last second!  I will miss all of you though.

As always, this year I am thankful for my family and friends, and grateful to have this opportunity to fulfill a dream.  But this year, I have to give special thanks to my amazing brother in law for fighting so hard, and inspiring us all!

Love to all, Cynthia

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