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Sojourner - Day 5; Eating words with extra salt.....



Been another tough day of working upwind against building NW winds and seas.....20-25kts and 2.5 to 3 meter seas, pretty bouncy ride and keeps driving us south of our desired course, playing havoc with our VMG. Been a good test of our watertight integrity; the new portlight seals we installed in Las Palmas have been great, no or minimal leaking there. Dorades a different story, need to recaulk to get rid of those annoying drips. At any rate, we expect the winds to clock tonight and think we will be reaching starting tomorrow and all will be rainbows and unicorns again.

So what is life like on a heeling, bouncing boat crashing through waves? If you are in the Vee Berth, you pray for the integrity of the hull fiberglass as the waves sound like explosions a foot from Ken"s head and sometimes the mattress drops from under you as the boat comes off a wave. If you are in the head, getting undressed and dressed again is a one handed process. Staying on the seat may require both hands. Are we having fun yet? Actually, this day has been an endurance test with trade wind sailing as the prize in just a couple of days. Well worth it.

True to his word, Bob made an effort to fish today despite the rough conditions. Was trolling a line and Pete asked how Bob would know if he had a fish hooked.....Bob said "when the line was straight", to which Pete replied "like that?". So started reeling and yes indeed, we had caught our first fish! "Tuna in a can" indeed. Nice 18", 5 lb......fish. Pretty. Hope it is edible. Have photos to document, but haven't figured how to get them from Bob's camera to Ken's MacBook. It is a nice looking flat-sided, round on top and bottom tapering to a sleek vertical V-tail when looking from the side. Long but not high dorsal running along it's back. Smooth tough skin like a parrotfish, not scales. Kind of a yellow-geen color when we first pulled it out. Identification pending. Note to selves: Next time, bring a fish identification book! If you hear from Sojourner after tomorrow, it WAS edible.

Ken and Bob

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