Boat, crew and family are all having a good time.
Our game plan has been, and continues to be, to head south, trying to avoid the light wind to the northwest and then turn right. It will feel real good when we turn the corner and start heading west, pointing at our destination!
The boat is sailing well. With the wind behind us, we can get the boat going 8 kts plus in about 10 kts of breeze. We’ve had a couple of spinnaker line issues but nothing we can’t overcome.
We’ve been seeing boats as we go which is real nice. We are currently alongside a X-612 and at yesterday’s noon position check the Volvo Ocean Race boat participating was about 90 nm further along our path. All good company.
We caught one tiny fish and threw it back. The line just went back in (8am now) and we (well maybe just me) are feeling confident we’ll have fish for lunch.
Last night while at the wheel, I heard a startling snort sounding like a person gasping for breath. Turning around there was a trail of bio-luminescent gracefully meandering through the water. A dolphin friend has come to keep me company for a while. With no moon the sky is super dark. When you first come up on watch it takes some getting use to, but then the sky comes alive. Sailing wise, it is a mater of using the instruments and listening for the sails.
Kids are adapting to sea life, participating in watches, cooking and sail handling - although homework is falling behind. Vera has been taking water samples each day and yesterday Vera and Ben did a neuston net surface collection.
For Ben’s science class he had to come up with a project related to the stars. He’s going to do something related to the sexton. Initially he asked for some help coming up with an idea. Nobody had any suggestions. Then he asked if he can go online to do some googling for an idea. No. Then he came up with the sexton idea.
It’s nice - for all of us - to unplug and enjoy the dolphin shows.
— Bill
AtlanticOceanTableForSixPlease