Day 12 - 861 miles to go

June 15, 2008 Sunday 2am - mid watch - 33d 41' North 47d 40' West
We have finally turned North. Our reading of the weather charts and confirmation from Herb, the weather guru who is guiding about 40 boats at the moment, shows that we are past the big storm in the middle of the Atlantic and can now ride the north going winds that rotate counterclockwise around the low pressure center. So we are zipping along, headed for the Azores. We've had squalls, wind shifts, light winds, heavy winds and rolling seas for the last day, but now we are feeling pretty good. The only thing that I can really complain about is the rolling. I wonder if I put in some more quarters, whether I can get this thing set on "permapress". Dinner can get hilarious as the eaters try to keep control of a wine glass and a fork at the same time. The fork will jump off the plate into your lap just when you least expect.
The other day I mentioned Merritt and someone emailed back, "Who is Merritt?" Merritt is one of Andi's oldest friends - she met him when she moved to Santa Cruz when she was 18 and he has been a friend of the family ever since. He was free to join us on this voyage and it has been great having extra Y Chromosomes for the heavy lifting and an extra person to share the night watches. That means that each of us should be able to get 6 hours sleep at night and catch up the rest with naps during the day. With the autopilot, it really only takes one of us to sail the boat unless there are major sail changes. Yesterday when it got light, we tried the spinnaker and quickly took it down due to too much rolling. Then we used the drifter and that proved to be the perfect sail for a while. All those changes were really a lot nicer with Merritt's help. He makes me realize how complicated this boat is because I am teaching him all about it and it is a major cram for him. He's faring well though and I think is coming to appreciate the features of the modern sailboat. I know he likes the email! Best to ya until tomorrow.