Tuesday, November 19
I have an actual shopping list, of course, but I don’t add things to it until we actually run out or, for some things, hit a critically low level. Meanwhile, I’m keeping an inventory in my head…not on purpose, just because my head does that sort of thing.
We have 6 days’ worth of eggs, 14 days’ tuna, 33 days’ soft cheese wedges, 8 days’ cheese slices, 6 days’ yogurt. There are enough soup and pasta packets for a couple months plus 6 pasta sauces worth of canned ingredients and a couple bottles of pesto. Unexpectedly, the canned fruit is almost gone, a side effect of having yogurt around for a change.
Other than that easy stuff, we have lots of rice, black beans, lentils, tvp, oatmeal, noodles, nooch, powdered milk, condensed juices. Some of those can be combined with soup packets to make a more filling meal.
We’ve never, ever set off on a voyage this profound without a lot more provisions. It’s preoccupying my thoughts, so I pulled from backstock and filled the cabinets to make myself feel better. We’re definitely not going to starve but it could get real monotonous towards the end.
Our time in Brava was a hit to the cabinets because we didn’t want to descend the cliff with full backpacks. We only got the basics and not all our usual basics were available, like loaves of sandwich bread. We have so much pb’n’j and can’t make sandwiches! The only crackers that would be good on? Tiny, therefore rather laborious and quite likely to get messy, trying to corral the jars of peanut butter and jelly, the knife, and the cracker container.
Whales! I think they were minkes. [Note from later: they were not minke whales, they were false killer whales.] Smallish or at least not boat-sized, dark black, small dorsal fin hooked back. Two came within 10 feet of the boat but another several, at least, were hunting a ways off.
I had just started the stove and that leftover smeaty bean dip got plenty hot while I was distracted.
Wednesday, November 20
There it is, the first change of tack since Brava. It’s 0635 and our cross-track error is over 8 miles. It kept looking like it would self-correct but that XTE kept increasing.
I gybed us to a port tack, still far downwind. Yesterday, we shook the reef for daylight hours and pulled it again after dark. It wasn’t a case of too much wind; the waves popped that worn sail a couple times a minute. Reefing slowed us down but we have to protect the main.
Cruising sails are often considered 10,000 mile items. This one is closer to 11,000 and it’ll go another 3,500 to get us to the Keys. It already has two patches and needs three more next time we pull it down. I don’t think we’ll get actual doldrums but I’ll take care of it underway if we do.
Pricing out a new one is on the to-do list, but buying a new one is not in the budget.
Noon position: N 15° 25.823’ W 039° 39.358’
Distance noon to noon: 83.3 NM
Average speed: 3.47 kn
Trip distance covered: 890.6 NM
Distance to destination: 1239 NM
