April 5: Day 6 of Crossing from MX to FP

Woke up to light winds, motored for two more hours until I did a wind dance, resulting in the wind slowly increasing until we could sail.  Okay, so likely not my dance, but still the timing was great.  Great brunch of burritos from Emil.  Put the asym out and have been sailing happily downwind.  Captain is still not 100%; seasickness is such a bummer.  I’m going to banish him from the computer and inside as much as possible; he does the best outside at the wheel. 

Flying fish in every direction, skimming the surface delicately like hummingbirds of the sea.  Calder is fishing.  Cora is crafting.  We did some reading on James Cook and other early explorers, as well as a few French lessons.  School is definitely piece-meal out here and depends on sea conditions and how everyone is doing.  We’ll resume more regular school once on land again.We are in International waters now and took down our Mexican flag, next flags we’ll raise will be our yellow quarantine flag and the French Polynesian flag.

Entire day spent sailing downwind under the asymmetrical spinnaker, very comfortable.  Dinner was fresh yellowfin tuna salad sandwiches and coleslaw, a cockpit picnic.  The breeze tonight feels warm.  The temperature outside is 76 degrees.  All the boat surfaces, inside and out, seem to have an almost oily moistness to them; humidity is rising. We find ourselves getting into a routine, our bodies getting used to our watch shifts and patterns of eating.

Going into the night, we are trying to stay east of some big winds coming in; the way the seas are building, we are likely right on the edge of those winds.  We’re hoping to stay in winds under 25.  We’re also trying to figure out how to intersect the path of totality of the upcoming eclipse while out here.  We’re hoping to make it work, but it will largely be up to the weather.

Overnight, max wind of 20, sailing under genoa only.  Most of the seas behind us, 6-9 feet and stacked close together, with an underlying swell on our stern beam; felt a bit like a carnival ride that wouldn’t stop.  Cora and I had some laughter when flying fish started coming into the cockpit, as we frantically put them back into the ocean.   We are officially a quarter of the way!

Total miles over the last 24 hours:   125.6nm

Average speed in last 24 hours:  5.2 knots

Total miles of trip so far:   729.8 nm – we are a quarter of the way!