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Campechano - Happy Thanksgiving!



Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:16:34 -0600
Happy Thanksgiving to the Campechano Family and Friends!

We hope that you are all doing well and that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

It is nearly 0900 on Friday, 27 November and It is another spectacular day on the Atlantic. It is already 82 degrees and the wind is blowing at 18 knots (true wind speed). We are averaging 9.5 knots at the moment and we have had the gennaker flying since yesterday afternoon. Last night was the first night that we kept it flying all night. Some of our ARC companions (in Ronnie-speak "competitors" or "adversaries") are flying these new-fangled parasails which require very little work and provide a lot of speed. For those of you who have been tracking us online, the multihull "Medianoche" (number 96) is using a parasail and they seem to be ahead of us at the moment. Obviously this does not sit well with the twins. We spent a fair amount of time with the owners of Medianoche in Las Palmas (a very nice German couple) and had a wonderful time with them. Now that we are at sea, however, memories of our fun times together have faded and we must crush them!

So for the rest of our journey the spinnaker or gennaker will likely be flying, which means constant and relentless trimming. No more sitting at the helm at midnight watching for passing ships. Now it standing at the winches trimming the sheets for hours on end. "Velocity made good" continues to be a constant discussion and some of the crew still cannot resist the urge to go fast, even though it means we are heading to Brazil or New York.

That said, we are settling-in to our routine and schedules and are enjoying each other's company. There are many hearty laughs and fun times.

Mano got his thumb caught in a winch yesterday and will likely lose his fingernail. There was a huge scream and a look of terror on his face, but gracias a Dios, it was not a serious injury. Rey was winching a spinnaker sheet which got away from him and injured his right shoulder, which means he is off winching duty for the next few days. John is fatigued from the long shifts manning the spinnaker and gennaker. Ronnie, Robbie and Sean are still injury-free, except for the normal full body bruises and aches that come from spending time on a constantly rocking boat.

Last night we were able to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner:
roast turkey (yes, a full turkey!), stuffing, gravy, green beans, freshly baked Challah bread and a homemade (or is that boat-made?) chocolate walnut torte.

To put that into perspective, imagine making Thanksgiving dinner for six hungry mean in an Easy-Bake oven. As an added culinary challenge, imagine further that the light bulb in that Easy Bake oven stops working every 15 minutes. Now you have the picture.

Shockingly, there were even leftovers which means turkey sandwiches today for lunch.

We think of you often and are thankful to have you in our lives.

Abrazos,
Campechano Crew


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