at sea
41.16.45 N
014.39.00 W
S\Y Fruits De Mer
23.07.08
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leaving la rochelle was classic. the on again, off again jiggity jig. i think on no less than 3 occasions we were to be staying the weekend. on three occasions we got sorted out and were suddenly leaving again within 10 minutes of the declaration. had we stayed, it would have been fun. as it went, it was pretty great anyway. is pretty great.
once we got away from the continental shelf the ocean became suddenly blue again. the rich, full colour the paintings try to get but never quite reach. there was one point between antigua - açores when the sea was nearly purple. lovely. you never (i never) get bored of looking at the seascape. today we're headed southwest, skirting a large depression and making about 4 knots VMG (velocity made good) toward our waypoint at terciera. trivia factoid: terciera is portuguese for 'third' and is the third biggest island in the açores archipelago. if i remember right anyhoo. i was supposed to be getting myself there at one point, but matthew decided that we should hang in faial and that's the way that went. easier than transporting a windsurfer by ferry. i would have to say that i spent around 6 hours of actual labour in the noonday sun over a couple days dragging that thing around horta. i am sure it got a few laughs, and i was teased, not exactly mercilessly by les and pierre the tatoo artist from the netherlands, who epsied my progress (or struggle) from their perch in Club Naval on the patio. it was particularly funny on the last day when i was als trying to carry a backpack AND my violin. i did deposit the violin with the laundrette near monte de guia. i was grateful and i suspect i shall take a small gift to them if i have enough cash (or something appropriate) when i get back to horta.
matt did say he could get some storage for his crap, but i had a pretty good idea about how franticaly busy (and how much was realistically possible) everything was right before the owner and fam showed up. as it went, i was still scrubbing the deck wheile matty went to the airport to collect them. i crept back on board to shut a hatch i'd left ajar and retreated, wearing my socks, carefuly wiping my footprints away as i rushed to get off the boat. and i thought my socks were clean! it's true though that you did need sunglasses to actually look at the boat, and it was as bit cloudy that day. positively gleaming. 'too bright to see' as the wise acres say.
looking forward to açores, but there's a possibility that we are going to go to madiera. whatever works, hey?
tagged off cooking detail with skip tonight. that works well. i like cooking and then i have the enjoyable opportunity to cok without having to do dishes. as i prefer. really, it's no big deal but there is something nice about sitting around whise someone else cleans the dish mess. relaxy. thing is, on a crew of 3 there's just not enough time in the schedule for that. still 3 hour watch, but then 6 hours off in which all the rest has to get done. every three deays, the pattern repeats. one of the days is tiring. you are up for dinner at 6 ish and on 9 - midnight. still, it's sailing and worth the weird sleep thing. so far i am right into it except that i am going to run out of books to read before we get 'there,' wherever there might be. there will hopefully be a book exchange, and i'll trade in everything except my precious 'everything is illuminated' book, which i do intend to add to the permanent collection. our autopilot is now in english. we also now have wind- mode. blwe a sheet and exploded the starboard jib car. took some water in the port eng. rm. all that while i slept this morning.
