Routines - Day 4

I have now settled in to a routine after 3 days at sea.

Coffee and sunrise start the day. At first light, I check my position, check the sails and then call in to the "Picante" net on SSB. I shake out the reefs put in the night before and do a quick "once around" on deck to check all lines, fittings and sails. (I also throw overboard any dead squid or flying fish that have landed on deck during the night - I didn't realize squid could fly!) As I shake out the reefs, adjustments are made to all sheets and halyards to prevent chafe. Then it's on to breakfast. Since the seas have been fairly calm, I have taken the opportunity to do a lot of cooking. I have way too much food and hope I can eat all the fresh stuff before it starts rotting. Made a great Shepard's Pie yesterday and now have leftovers for another meal.

During the day, it is all about relaxing, reading, playing the guitar and repositioning the solar panels. Every half hour or so, I check our progress and adjust course and the sails, as necessary. It's not usually necessary as the wind has been light but consistent from the NW between 6 and 12 knots. I am averaging a little less than 4 knots and have been becalmed at times. I ran the engine for an hour yesterday to top off the water tanks and the batteries and all worked well. HAL is keeping us on a course of about 240 degrees and while I'm not breaking any speed records I am moving comfortably in the right direction. We're about 260 miles out and will be passing south of the Socorro islands sometime today or tonight.

In the evening, I call into the Pacific Puddle Jump Net and put a reef in each of the sails for the night. I have been sleeping up to an hour or more at a time as it seems I am pretty much out of the shipping lanes and am seeing fewer and fewer boats. The farther out I get, the longer I will sleep at a stretch. Saw one fishing boat heading in to port last night around 2 AM but he passed several miles to the South of me (no AIS). I have the AIS alarm set to alert me whenever there is a ship within 5 miles (all large ships are required to transmit AIS) but nothing heard for over a day now.

Hoping to get some more wind soon (careful what you ask for!). Can't wait to get into the NE trades in a few days and start making some real progress.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com