Day 2 Present Day

After a lackluster night with very little wind, we have had a much better morning. We spent the overnight doing 4 and 5 knots with wind speeds around 10 or 11 knots. Around 03:30, as I came to take over the watch, Louie was highly bothered to see a boat to our starboard moving in and overtaking us. We are not racing, but we do have our pride. At the time, we were sailing with mainsail out toward port and the gennaker out to starboard. That is; the older, bright red gennaker, not the black and orange gennaker that was torn on day one. As the other boat gained, Louie was forced by competitive nature to make a sail change. We moved the gennaker to the port side and changed our course from 270 degrees to 255. This put the wind, what little there was of it, behind and to the right of us. I have learned that this is the wind direction that catamarans like best. The only problem was, instead of aiming straight for St. Lucia, we were now pointing at the Bahamas. We have plenty of distance ahead of us to correct our course.

After the sun rose, the winds were a little more kind. After several more scene changes with the sails, we are currently moving comfortably at around 9 to 11 knots, with winds around 18. The mainsail, spinnaker, and gennaker are all full.




Around 09:00, we had guests. A large school of dolphins surrounded us. Mark ignored my warnings that these looked like bloodthirsty killer dolphins. They had him fooled into believing they were the playful, cuddly sort. Mark lay on his stomach at the bow and hung down with his hand in the water. The dolphins responded by drawing closer and swimming on their sides to get a better look. I continued filming, in order to document the impending catastrophe for the $10,000.00 prize on America's Funniest Home Videos. Tom was speaking in non-stop Dutch. Probably saying some pagan death prayer, who knows? Who knows.

"They're sizing you up! They do that just before they move in. They're a vicious pack of sea-dogs!" Mark was ignoring my warnings and cooing baby talk to them. "We gotta get a bigger boat," I mumbled. Luck was on his side, as the mob spied something even more delicious somewhere down below the watery depths. In a moment, they melded back into the sea. They were gone. I watched the waters warily. " ... we gotta get a bigger boat ... "

We are now living quite comfortably, with the waves coming toward us from the stern instead of the starboard side. Mark spoke to the good ship Xenia via VHF radio yesterday. They contacted us to ask who we were and scold us for having the unmitigated impertinence of being in front of them. The Xenia is a very fast Swan 46, and Mark had trouble keeping his humility in check. At this moment, have the Talulah Ruby in sight as they pass behind us on a course of 255 degrees. As I write, we are running at 8.5 knots. The children onboard the Talulah Ruby are urging their captain to overtake us, but their speed is currently 6.5 knots. Their captain reports one child and one adult with seasickness, and he is prudently maintaining 6.5 knots. I imagine the kids who are not seasick are ... less than understanding. EAT OUR WAKE SPRAY, PUNKS! I mean that only in the nicest possible way.










Barry is keeping us well fed. Spaghetti bolognese for dinner last night. Porridge for breakfast. He has become quite adept at running the galley as it teeters and totters. If it were up to me, we'd be eating uncooked rice for every meal. Hats off to Barry.





And words from our Dutch crew , Louis and his father Tom
Weer een berichtje van Louis en Tom
Na een goede wacht zonder problemen voor allen hebben we vanmorgen al weer het een en ander meegemaakt. Alle kleine dingen worden belangrijk.
Louis had een kleine dorade aan de haak maar die vond het niet leuk om opgehaald te worden dus die vertok maar weer. Na een wisseling van gennaker naar spinaker toch maar weer terug naar gennaker omdat dat deze meer snelheid geeft en stabieler is. Er zijn nu 2 boten in de buurt waar we contact mee hebben via de marifoon. Een kwam een beetje te dicht bij dus hebben we maar 3 zeilen opgezet en gaan we weer volop.
Ook een leuke ontmoeting met dolfijnen gehad die behoorlijk lang in de buurt bleven. Je kon ze voorop de punt bijna aanraken.
Hasta maÀana

cheers from the well fed crew (and surprisingly not sea sick)
mark, louie, barry, tom and keith