Friday 8 March 2019

Easing in to the rhythm

We are easing in to the new routine as our body clocks become adjusted.
It will take a few days, but it will become a lot easier to hop out of
the bunk in the wee small hours and present oneself, awake and alert,
ready to take over in the cockpit. I'm not quite there yet!

I'm struck by how different it felt preparing for this ocean crossing
compared to the Atlantic last November: much more low key. Much of that
must be because we have come this far already and the boat is doing so
well. And we have Steve with us, brilliant. For me, the Atlantic was my
fist ocean crossing and I didn't know how I would find it, so was a
little apprehensive.

This time, I think we all felt well prepared and ready to go, off on
another adventure. Added to that, we are due to meet Lizzie, James and
Bridget in the Marquesas when we arrive. I'll be counting down the
miles.

We are bowling along right now with a great tailwind of 15 knots. The
seas were a little rough and confused overnight when we had a bit more
wind, but have settled now into a gentle 4 foot swell that is
repetitively lifting the stern and pushing Tintin along in the right
direction. Long may it last.

Wendy, our windpilot, is smoothly doing all the work at the helm for us,
so we can choose if we want to hand steer rather than having to
do so all through our watch.

Wildlife continues to delight us unexpectedly. At dawn something small
flew past me from behind, missing my head by a whisker, then
continued over the cockpit and into the sea - a little flying
fish. Steve saw something jump up from the sea and land on deck with a
thump - on investigation Rob found 3 squid, declared too tiny (and
stinky!) for dinner.

Storm petrels, swallow tailed gulls, boobies, and dolphins also visited
us yesterday. It is magic.

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