We had been flying our large spinnaker A-kite which is bigger than most.  It goes from the very top of the mast to past the deck and some times almost to the water. We had to take her down today because a squall came through with too much wind.  Matt happened to look up at the mast and noticed the top ¼ of it was bending with the pull of the spinnaker so down she came!  We put up the smaller kite which is super pretty, but does not provide as much speed.  Let me clarify, when I say not as much speed, we were averaging 30 miles per shift and that has done down to 25 miles per shift – still great!

Since it was another relatively beautiful day with no pounding and decent seas, I decided to tackle the Tupperware cabinet.  I know you are thinking “what’s the big deal”.  Let me tell you what a pain in the butt it was!  There were 3 shelves in a double cabinet full of a mix match of round, oblong, square, rectangle, and tubes Tupperware.  Plus all the lids are mixed up.  So first I organized by type, then tried to figure out what fit inside where most conveniently and then tried to find the mated lid.  Once I determined what pieces we wanted to keep (based on what could be stored easily inside another piece), I matched it to a lid and marked the container with the color of the lid.  We were able to discard over 30+ pieces of Tupperware that was either old, tired, odd shaped or cracked.  I cleaned each piece, cleaned the cupboard, inventoried everything and put it back. All I can say is √, √!

Matt caught a huge Mahi Mahi about 3’-4’ long and about 30lbs.   It was beautiful and huge.  After they brought it on board, there was a discussion about how much 150 proof should be given to the fish (to stun/numb and eventually kill him).  I liked the fact of numbing the fish as much as possible so it does not suffer (keep in mind I have a 100 gallon salt water tank at home and have had a fish tank in my life for over 20 years).  A Mahi Mahi comes out of the water a gorgeous blue and green luminescent color and the more alcohol you give them makes them turn a boring yellow.  So, some say to only give them enough to numb them and not change their color – I say, change their color and give it a rest!  Matt took the liberty to gut and clean this fish and did it “with the hands of a surgeon” according to the others. I of course did not watch.

Our shifts are all messed up because we have crossed over a time zone or two.  So my 4p-7p shift which used to fall around dinner and dark is now in the late afternoon – kind of funny.  We decided to keep the shifts as they are since we are used to the routine and who really cares what time it is when you still have 1100 miles to go J