Date: June 15, 2007
Location: s/v Liberty, nearing the Azores
Position: 36 07 N 037 26 W
Miles to date - 1739.1 nm ( about 350 left to go )
We have spent the last few days trying to miss fronts, lows, ridges, troughs, and convection. Sometimes we aren't always sure which we are avoiding when, but we do know we have been trying to detour around them for the past couple of days.
We've had mainly rainy and cloudy days, sometimes stormy and almost all of that time has been spent 'rocking and rolling'. We luckily have not been sea sick but our time has been spent on watch or in our berths, the only place that you don't get flung around. Our meals have consisted of anything we can quickly retrieve and eat without it or other stuff going flying. Cereal, peanut butter, bread and cheese etc. One day we were really brave and actually warmed up some chili and managed to eat it without spilling it all over.
A boat at sea is constantly moving. Walking around below requires prolific use of handholds, non-skid carpet, and things to lean against. We all look a bit like a bunch of drunks as we crab, pull, and scoot ourselves around down here.
Sleeping presents its own issues. It would be fairly easy for an errant wave to boost one out of bed in the middle of the night and into a pile on the cabin sole. Far back in maritime history some enterprising soul (named "Lee"??) devised a way to prevent this - lee cloths.
A lee cloth is simply a piece of material (canvas, denim, whatever) that is fastened to a berth below the mattress (so it can be folded away when not in use) and attached by lines to hard spots at either end - in essence, it forms a soft partition between the edge of your berth and the outside world.
Lee cloths are pretty much essential to getting sleep in a seaway, especially if you've been bouncing around like we have for the past few days. Hats off to Lee.
Charlotte and Alex: we saw your dolphins this afternoon and thought of you! Five or maybe six of them swam along with us for a few minutes. It was hard to tell how many as they kept switching sides.
Mark & Julies/v Rachel
