Thursday, July 4
James’ 1200-1230 half watch
I’m finding so much satisfaction in logging the day’s data and talking to the people I imagine reading this. The people in my life now, yes (hi Kate, hi Dad), but I’m also talking to me, in later years, in case I need proof that I was brave and looked for ways of being in love with the world. It isn’t always easy, but it’s worth working at it.
James’ 1500-1600 watch
Only 50 miles northeast of Cabo Bojador. It’s hard to wrap my head around skating this close to mainland Africa and not stopping anywhere. I read the guides and checked online resources…there really aren’t any ports for us between Morocco (already upwind) and Dakar (too far downwind). It’s true, but it chafes.
Cabo Verde is definitely considered Africa, but islands always have their own thing…it’s why they’re such compelling destinations. With Portuguese as the official language but most people having Creole as their first language, there will be a particular flavor and I’ll miss some of it for lack of comparison.
James’ 1700-1800 watch
I just finished rereading Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. I love that book for how it gets me thinking about ecosystems, predator species, but also how humans have such a hard time communicating their worldviews to one another. People don’t just hold different ideas on things. They don’t form passions and opinions and ideas based on indisputable facts alone, though it seems like well-reasoned argument should sway somebody. We are tapestries, and it’s not always possible to trace a thread back and find the genesis of an attitude. If nature is the warp and nurture is the weave, you have an even bigger task figuring out how to share with others what and why you believe. Without finding something in common, some factor upon which the person you’re talking to has built their understanding of the world, it’s almost impossible to communicate an idea that would require that they change a fundamental belief.
Friday, July 5
Dena’s 2400-0300 watch
I got myself comfortably embedded in the cockpit before I remembered that I intended to take an ibuprofen. At the end of my last watch, it became clear that we would need to reef. When I did that job, somehow I pulled my shoulder a little. It doesn’t seem badly hurt, just a little achy.
Too bad about the reefing though. All day was pretty windy with a lot of wave action but it started to build pretty fast right before sundown. Beluga hasn’t eaten much or had much water today so it would have been nice to have a quiet night where he would feel safe moving around.
I think we’re on the southern edge of one of the weather systems I had been worried about before we left. Hopefully we move ourselves right on out of it. We’re certainly making good time! We did 58M in 12 hours.
Saharan dust clouds bound for the Amazon cover the stars in swirls of light and dark. The pale patches dissipate into star field and then the whole sky clears up in a shock to the system before being covered over again.
And poor James got slapped in the face by a flying fish, which…I can’t lie. That’s pretty funny.
Dena’s 0600-0900 watch
The horizon suddenly existed, after a new-moon dark so profound that all boundaries disappeared. The sky slipped from grey to grey, gained a thickness I could imagine feeling on my tongue. Five minutes later, my fingertips wanted to know that baby-chick softness but it hovered beyond my reach. The slightest infusion of blue revealed that I was looking at clouds, variably dense and going pearly.
Fifteen minutes until sunrise.
Noon position: N 25° 39.030’ W 016° 08.326’
Distance noon to noon: 111.4 NM
Average speed: 4.65 kn
Trip distance covered: 209 NM
Distance to destination: 770 NM
