the great southern sea!

3/20 p:4754S 10019W
beautiful day for Papa's memory. the sun is out, it's cold but nice. albatross
around us and AWESOME waves - you can't tell until you're ON one, looking down
into the tough ahead, around onto the ocean, and afar to the horizon: top of the
world!

the next days are moving one into the other, i'll give noon positions at end.
get up, go to the head, steer the boat, get wet - off watch and eat, get dry and
sleep, we're doing 1.5hr watches round the clock. H2O temp 49 degr. air same or
colder PLUIS windchill factor!
several force 7 and squalls with sleet and hail. downwind sailing and getting it
just right feels amazing, like floating still, above the waves that are rushing
by, then you look and you're doing 7kts!
thurs my best ride yet (this alone was worth coming here!). all sat hove too to
ride out big depression force 9-10, mostly sleeping and reading.
i'm making attempts to write Dillard-like about what i see and feel about this
incredible nature around me and then get caught up in being cold and hungry and
writing about my feeling about coming home soon
3/21 p: 4840S 09740W
3/22 p: 4912S 09442W
3/23 p: 4846S 09146W
3/24 p: 4842S 09014W
3/25 p: 4919S 08904W
3/26 p: 4924S 08759W

500 miles from cabo pilar! so we might be in punta arenas next week

this is what we came here for

3/14 p: 4541S 1141W
we've arrived in the roaring 40s!clocked 11kts today before shortening sail. our
1st gale. bare poles over night
3/15 p:4554S11130W
cold & wet. i manage to get enough sleep. we r4un the generator to top up
batteries and can turn on heater to dry clothes.
3/16 p:4646S 10910W
before the wind steering: finding the smooth point between gybing and rolling
and having waves smash into the side
3/17 p:4735S 10600W
bare poles again, lots of green water, some single waves over 30ft. stunningly
berautiful. wind 7-8
2/18 p:4729S 10520W
smooth sailing during day, our 3rd gale at night
2/19 p: 4808S 10157W
H2O temp: 49 degr. rocky ride, took a dive across the saloon and had to watch my
sandwich slide down the locker (face on door), i'm o.k.
don't have much time to take notes between steering, sleeping and drying. camera
still broken, pix only in my head. tomorrow is may dad's b-day

the rolling 40s

3/7 p: 4246S 12427W
foggy morning, then pressure drop and it got cold, i crawled into bed to warm up
3/8 p: 4311S 12302W
H2O temp 56 degr., got ca 10 gal of it dumped into my lap today, just sitting at
the helm. wind in 20s, lots of birds
3/9 p: 4334S 12103W
windy and seas building, heaving to w/sea anchor to button down everything for
heavy weather
3/10 p: 4322S 12036W
still hove to, got a freak water splash into my bunk and spent most day drying
everything out. we also had to fix the stove that had broken a gimbal bracket.
3/11 p: 4319S 11941W
my camera is broken, must have been condensation from temperature change, arghh!
Ira said i can take pictures with his...but still
3/12 p: 4327S11836W
reminded of a sunny wintery day in Hamburg and the friends that come with it.
:-) it seems i am taking turns missing EVERYBODY in rotation..
3/13 p: 4429S 11618W
yes, it's getting colder, thank god for REI and polarfleece and thanks Mama for
the socks you made! I've added another layer for nightwatch. now it's also
drizzling off and on. most of our conversation go around food and clothing. H.
gave me some advice how to try to fix the camera. If anyone is actually plotting
our course you will find that there ain't no straight line in sailing. This
morning i had a great ride on my watch doing 7kts and it was beautiful, but this
afternoon again, the roaring 40s turned into the rolling 40s with more waves
than wind. this is bound to change, i'm not so sure when. there is lows lurking
around us tho. so we might make it to Cabo Pilar in 12 days or in another month.
not faster. which reminds me of returning, it is already mid march. I need to
figure out how to plan all that. xo

Tuna Galore

2/28 p:3527S 12213W
hove to after an exhilarating ride and abrupt windshifts resulting in confused
seas. Alles gute zum geburtstag, Erik!
3/01 p:3522S 12225W
started sailing again at 10:00, due S. sauerkraut w/ latkas -yum!
3/02 p: 3650S 12409W
leak behind navstation came back, everybody's bummed but all electronics are
fine. saw a pair of royal albatri.
3/03 p: 3815S 12522W
caught a tuna 1st thing w/daylight, got my shoes wet and bloody and took them
off - cold! h2o temp: 63 degr
3/04 p: 3828S12558W
made stir-fry with - guess... tuna. albatross sightings every day now
3/05 p: 3957S 12585W
sunny day, feels like October... am daring shorts for awhile to air out skin and
foulie pants. H2O temp: 59 deg
we've had to go further west to get around this high. H. is anticipating going
south to lat. 4500S and then turn E. caught 2 more tuna since the last one.
3/06 p:4122S 12527W
beautiful sunny morning with light blue sky and dark blue sea, 10-12kts of wind,
very mellow for the roaring 40s.
thinking of 1338 york, how are you guys? i miss you, "home" is a strange place
and the world is so big and full of places to go, to be, even to stay for
awhile...