at sea
38 00 N
31 17 30 W
0625 UTC
05.16.08
s/y flying cloud
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eagerly awaiting as fromage du chevre wasa snack baking until melty in the oven. another watch kicking ass under sail, both the gennaker and a full main up. we only made about 11 knots max, but it's been quite consistent and has been a night of nice wind and a mostly calm sea.
foggy day ~ actually low visibility. yesterday morning while i was neglecting my journal and also i think preparing hors d'oevures, a container ship or perhaps an oil tanker passed rather close by ~ nearly alarmingly so. considering their speed and the part where it takes nearly a kilometer for a boat that size to even consider turning, it /was/ a little close for comfort. this ship really did appear from out of nowhere. five minutes ~ inside of every five minutes when visibility is good, a person on watch is expected to perform the horizon sweep, changing vantage points at least once in the process as a vessel on a collision course will remain in any blind spot if the sweep is performed from only one spot in the cockpit. at night we are to always be wearing harnesses. at night we do not leave the cockpit. all safety, all the time.
so midori went below for not more than a minute and upon her return there was this giant ship steaming full ahead ~ fortunately not at us but diagonally behind us. we could see the bow wave. and probably could have read the letters, though somehow the name of the vessel now eludes me. i am told that they are to keep 3 nautical miles away from us officially but i am thinking they were more like one or maybe one and a half miles away. considering that we are two specks in an ocean otherwise empty as far as the eye can see in any direction...
