Mid afternoon ramblings....

Everybody is sleeping. After a rolly polly night, with a midnight sail change, things have calmed and the crew is taking this opportunity to rest. We press on with 8 knots of wind basically from the east. The way we want to travel.

While they are sleeping I just had my own personal visit from some Spotted Dolphins. I very much enjoy the visits from the Dolphins, it just adds to and brightens the day.

We've seen whale spouts in the distance, I keep my eyes peeled for an actual breech. I wonder how birds get so far away from land.

We found a rip in our spinnaker two days ago, we fixed it with sail tape. Then later in the night the halyard (the line that holds the sail up) chafed through right above the head of the sail. All 4 of us were up at 4 am dragging this huge sail out of the water. I think we can be proud of how we handled that unfortunate incident. We secured the sail and all the lines safely and quickly. We are not sure what the cause of the chafing was and it will require a trip up the mast by captain Joe. We prefer not to do this at sea.

Most of the fleet has either arrived or will be arriving Horta in the next couple of days. We are still 4-5 days out. The crew is in good spirits, well rested and I must say well fed. We didn't buy too much food for this excursion!

And so it goes....

It has been gorgeous the last few nights with the moon up through the night and shining brightly on the ocean. We can't hardly wait for tomorrow's full moon.

Life at sea with no wind had been peaceful and frustrating. The seas are flat, there is no rolling or creaking of the boat, there is no wind through the rigging, there are also very few miles crossed towards our destination. The captain and crew scratch their heads, try to put together a successful sail plan and check weather multiple times a day.

The Dolphins seem to have a nightly playtime. Just about 6 pm everyday we've had them playing around the boat. They swim with the bow, turn over and show us their bellies then head out and jump in and out of the water for awhile. We look forward to the nightly show. Last night while on watch I could hear the Dolphins chattering.

While the seas were flat I kept thinking I was seeing trash in the water, clear plastic cups every time I looked up. Turns out those clear plastic cups were Portuguese Man of War a form of Jelly Fish that basically puts up their own sail. This is something I will need to Google later as I have no idea if that is accurate.

All the wildlife is wonderful but gets us no where closer to our destination. We are expecting more wind in the next 24 hours or so, here's hoping.

I've been in a bit of a funk as things at Texoma are not good and we feel totally powerless. We have good, good friends who have emptied the trailer (by boat no less) of most of our personal belongings. Unfortunately the furniture remains. It was too late to get it out. Though elevated it will surely mildew as there is 7 inches of water inside the house and of course no electricity. It is very hot inside that home. It looks like our adventure this summer will be cut short as I think it best to go back for the clean up. I suspect once we hit Portugal we will store the boat somehow and head to Texas.

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, we are in good shape out here albeit slow.

Pixie Dust Sails

Almost 30 hours of motoring brings us north enough to sail. The sails are set wing and wing and we are sailing east at 5 knots. The boat is quiet again, sleep tonight will be peaceful.

The last two days we have been visited by Dolphins 3 times, we have disturbed a few Sea Turtles basking in the sun and were passed by a pod of Pilot Whales. Tefo has had fishing lines in the water for most daylight hours but we've had no bites.

The water tanks are topped off, we've manage to conserve enough fuel for a possible 4 more days of motoring and the crew is in good spirits. We are hoping to see Horta by Friday. For now we are happy to be sailing again.

Welcome to the Azores High

No, we have not reached the Islands, only the the persistent "high" that carries the islands name.

Now I'm no weather man, but I'm learning. "Highs" are an area basically with no wind while around the high the winds go in a clockwise fashion. So the winds we want are up North of the "high". So we are motoring, north.

We still have approximately 900 nm to our destination. We have approximately 500 nm of fuel onboard. We've got to find wind somewhere!

Once we get to the north side of the high the winds should be very consistent. Until then the crew is in good spirits, the sky's are sunny and blue and the seas are flat. It was one members laundry day.

Good Morning Day 7

We left Bermuda 7 days ago. We've traveled a little over 800 nautical miles, we have less than 1000 to go. Between the generator and the engine we've used approximately 40 gal of our 180 gal fuel capacity. We continue to chase the wind.

We haven't updated much because there is no news. We plod along out here today with blue skies and the blue ocean.

Our thoughts are with our friends at lake Texoma. The flooding there is destructive and disruptive. Thank you to all who are looking out for me in my absence. Denise, Derek, Heather, Bill, Ellen, Mark and Nick. Thinking of you all and praying for some relief!

In search of wind....

We knew it would happen we just thought it would be later in the trip. It started last night, a sailors nightmare, no wind!

Pixie Dust is a heavy boat. She needs at least 10 knots of wind to move her forward. Last night around 8 pm we had 4 maybe 5 knots of wind pushing us South. Not enough and in the wrong direction. We started the engine. At mid night the wind reappeared and we had a beautiful night of sailing.

Then there is now, 4 knots of wind in the wrong direction. Once again we have started the engine and we are headed North to find the wind. It's out there somewhere. We have a sort of wind map I download daily to help guide us. It is called a grib file. So that sudden left turn you saw us make? We are in search of wind.

About last night.....

We had a beautiful sail last night! Winds were 10-15 and we had following seas making our speed a whole 7.5 knots. The skies were crystal clear and full of stars. The biggest and brightest stars were highlighted by a background of black with silver flecks throughout the sky. I've never seen this many stars. The phosphorous in the water coming off our wake was another delightful light show. Joe said the trail coming off the back of the boat looked like a jet engine.

This morning just before sunrise, while I was on watch, the Dolphins came to play with our bow. I was treated to 30 minutes of watching Dolphins swim next to and under the boat. They appear to be such happy creatures! The show was a great way to start the day.

We've settled into a nice routine. Eat, sleep, stand watch, repeat. Only 1290 miles to go!