Ain't no sunshine when she's gone

It is our sixth day out at sea, and we are properly on our way to St.Helena. We have averaged 6.3kts thus far, and only really starting to roll now. One day into the next. The first few days we had some rock and roll. Don, the owner, who is also a horseman, related how to go with the motion of the boat and don't fight it, same as with a horse, works for him 🐎 And now we are riding seahorses just occurred to me 🦄🏇

Jane is still finding her sealegs fully. Chopped some onion, crushed some garlic, added a dollop of butter and started cooking with gas. Added some Italian herbs to the fried onions and garlic, 800g of ground beef, and covered with a glass lid. Later on I added some Chinese soya sauce, Worcestershire sauce, South African chutney, Himalayan salt and Madagascar black pepper. Took a portion of the mince out for Jane before I added the final tomato ingredients. A dash of olive and boiled a packet of N4 Liguine for six minutes. I grated some mozzarella cheese to sprinkle on top. Opened a big bottle of Tabasco.The flavors wafted into Jane's cabin and she felt much better after joining us for lunch. Bon appetito!

We had main second reef opened wide up for the night with the wind at about 150° from behind. AWS 13 to 20kts on a port tack. After lunch we decided to drop the main. Started the motors, checked that everyone and everything was ready and turned into the 3m swell, maintaining 2kts to not slam. Dropped the main in a flash, secured the halyard, turned downwind again and unfurled the genoa. Tied a sling to the genoa clew and wrap around midship cleat to keep the sail open wide. Finally attach a length of bungee to the sling. We are now on a starboard tack and running with first reef in the genoa. AWS between 15 - 22kts. Wind vane at 160°S, rudder response set at leisure. The Gori folding props makes a big difference, and the North X1 sails are besides beautiful, also very effective. Sparcraft rigging wonderful to have. This all makes this Maverick what it is. A most capable and true blue water sailor.

The clouds started floating in yesterday, and from pure blue skies two days ago, it is completely overcast today. Our solar panels are still absorbing light energy, and our power remains above 70%. Amazing what solar technology can achieve nowadays. The way forward for sure.

I hope your day is going well, and our side sailing along gently. Chat again soon.

Paul



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