We had yet another day of large seas, high winds and lousy boat speed.  We decided to change our course a bit to get better VMG but we it will get “beat up” so I decided to shower again to change my spirits and get refreshed – always works!  We changed course by about 40°, dropped to one engine and gained a bit more of VMG.  Around 4p my sweet husband decided that he needed to go back up the mast to grab the lazy jack that wrapped around the TX flag – of course we were in 8’ seas and 20 knots of wind.  Better than before, but still not optimal.  Maybe he decided he needed more bruises as the ones he got before are starting to turn yellow?  This time it only took him about 35 minutes to hike up the mast, unwrap the lazy jack, and return to the deck. I think he thinks he is part monkey as he has learned to use every limb, finger and toe to hold on while suspended from mast.  At least I don’t have to go up there in these conditions.  Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be hoisted up the mast, but only when it is anchored or in a slip!

The days and nights are totally running together!  I would not know what day/date it is today except for the fact that it is written on my journal – is that good or bad?  The routine is nice, the food has been great, the boat is holding up, the crew is getting along as well as can be – but where are the trade winds?

Waves, waves, waves everywhere, short, tall, steep chopy with lots of wind equals slow going.

Making 2kn is not ticking off the miles very fast. We have huge gulf steep waves and both engines running 1/2 throttle to make 2kt toward the destination into 27kt of wind.

Breakfast quesidillas, and slowly rolling toward St Lucia, the broken lazy jack has wrapped its self around the good port lazy jack so when the time comes it could be a challenge to raise the main.

Pretty much an uneventful day motoring into the wind @ 2kt, just trying to make head way. We could sail either straight south or straight north today, neither of which would put us closer to our destination, so we just motor on. We have one tank with 1/4 fuel, and the other with 3/4 fuel so we have burnned about 1/2 our supply to go 1/3 of the way. I know fractions are hard, but that means we have to do some sailing to at some point to make it the rest of the way. Not to worry, in 3-4 days time the forecasts (that haven’t been right yet) have the winds coming from a direction that is good for us.

Pizza and beer for dinner. Ron had brought some prepackaged “just add water” pizza dough mixes that came out perfect.

Lots of humidity in the air, so still wearing a jacket, but more to keep you dry than warm.

I may have become used to the rocking and rolling, the fact that its blowing 20kn and 10foot seas out there seems calm to me – wondering why we aren’t running under full sails, then just then a big wave smacks the boat sideways, and I am put back in to my place.

Tonight is super clear, lots and lots of stars out, lots of shooting stars, its very cool.

Crew is doing well, thinking of trade winds. Except for me, I’m dreading the next trip up the mast to untangle the lazy jack, thats not entangled with the Texas flag as well. We can raise the sail to 3rd reef position as is, but any more canvas is going to require some more acrobatics. And just as my bruises are healing from the last trip up there, and in these seas, I’m staying on deck till it flattens out some or we get a good breeze to hold un on a tack.

AIS spotted a couple of ships crossing our path earlier today, one of which was bound for Beaumont, he is going to be there on the 11th, we tried to call him on the radio and see if he could just lift us aboard for the ride, but he was long gone. AIS for those that don’t know is a technology where commercial ships and some recreational boats can transmit their data over radio frequencies along with their coordinates and speed. They can be plotted on screen that looks similar to radar, except that you know the blips are ships.

Course over ground: 252 Speed over ground: 3.0kn Total miles through water: 691 Miles to destination: 1699 kn if we were a bird.

After a tough day yesterday, we had a rough night last night with huge seas creating lots of pounding, bouncing and noise.  I know this boat is safe and hardy, but it is hard to believe there will not be any problems with the hulls of the boat.  Matt assures me that the boat is fine and that the noise is a lot worse than anything else that could happen.  I was squeezing his hand every time the boat pounded the wave and he said “it will be a long night if you do that with every wave”.  Even though we have strong winds it is not coming from the direction we want – really bad wind angle.    All day we had 22-25 knots of wind, huge rollers and a boat speed of 3-4 knots.  We averaged about 25 miles over the last 24 hours – eek gads we will never make it to our destination!  We did manage to spot 2 shipping containers – yeah “proof of life” J