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Arkouda - Big Rolly Seas and Green Chilie



13 28.2 N, 44 28.5 W SOG 6-6.5, COG 290

We finally made contact with the sailing vessel Aspen yesterday! As I had mentioned I tried in wee hours of the morning to reach her, without success. Right after I hit the send button on the outgoing emails, I heard a voice on the VHF. Pretty exciting, only the could not hear us! We will be testing our distance and antennae when we reach St. Lucia.

I got a little worried. We had passed her (despite what the position report showed, although she could have passed us again, but I would have at least seen the boat on the AIS. I am not sure if they stopped in the Verdes, which means that they have been out here four days longer. And although we had one stellar day of over 200 NM, most of our sailing is the average speed of average boat, adjusted to make us comfortable. If the sea is large and lumpy (like it is now!) we slow down, and currently are only making 6 knots. Just a few miles to our North is a current that might gives us a boost, so we are slowly making our way WNW. We should reach it in a couple of hours.

Back to Aspen, I got worried, called the ARC Support, emailed her, tried to send a "phone call" over the SSB radio. No luck. I finally emailed them, got a quick reply that they are fine. Arc spent a lot of time trying to contact them without success also.

After the rough night last night due to the two sets of waves, I took advantage of the calm to make breakfast burritos. I had smuggled a jar of Ole Santa Fe Green Chile, extra hot, in my suitcase for Brady. We obviously no longer need to save it for him! It was delicious! I was also amazed that fresh eggs (never refrigerated) actually will last weeks in the cupboard. Amazing!

Last night I watched squalls on the radar. If you set the radar to track them it will show you wind speed and direction. One little guy was actually moving at 71 kts. I had assumed they would move in a constant direction according the general direction of the wind. It looked to me like these things just zip around, aim at you, than back off once you have had reefed everything down. We got a little sprinkle of rain, but not even enough to wash the fish scales off, gifts courtesy of the flying fish, now ALL OVER the boat!

The little brown bird is still zipping around the boat, usually one to two wave lengths back. He skims the water pretty close, than flies high again. I had the honor of watching him manage to scoop a flying fish while it was in mid air! I am not sure what this guy does for water, how he could fly so long. Does he land and rest in the water? I have left a little bowl of fresh on the sugar scoop in case he ever decides to visit.

We are doing fantastic! Still feels like a long way to go, but just realized it has been over a week since we left the Verdes! How time flies.

Cynthia

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