We're sailing again right now, but we've switched back and forth several times from motoring to sailing. My watch set everything one day, took it all in the next, and reset it the next day, as things worked out. I ended up doing two hours of helm several days running, and then this morning on the new schedule, and a little short-handed, did helm, bow lookout, helm and helm. I'm far and away the least fit person on my watch, but am good on the helm (lots of practice), so it's right when we have lots of hard work to do for me to take the helm. We're still going SW, currently at at 3 knots from 20-52'N 036-48'W to try to catch the trades west. Puerto Rico is uncertain, which would mean clearing in at Miami for West Palm Beach, apparently, if we don't stop. We did about 800 nautical miles in the last week.
The captain's 60th birthday was yesterday, so we had a jelly roll and lots of cookies. The fresh fruit is gone, and all the strawberry jam. There's just a small amount of peanut butter left, so it's being kept at the main crosstrees. The few non-climbers don't care. Fresh (frozen) milk is being rationed, but reconstituted dry milk is abundant, and is an OK substitute, and my main source of potassium now.
We crossed the Tropic of Cancer, so people dressed as tropically as possible, being a Tshirt and lava-lava in my case- a harness is OK but slightly uncomfortable over just underwear, so I'm back to jeans. I brought some that needed patching, and have done that. And Mush the bear has a turkshead bracelet now, thanks to Cassie, an AB on my watch, to go with his knit watch cap.
You can send short messages to me at n6tqs@winlink.org, if you wish.
