Today was a beautiful day with smaller waves and lighter wind so the large kite went up – I decided to name her Big, Beautiful Betsy.  Not sure why, but my days seem so much nicer to chat with her.  I get up and greet her, tell her to stay full and thank her for carrying our boat miles across the ocean.  Now I see how Tom Hanks talked to “Wilson” while he was stuck on an island by himself – you have to create a friend that will help you through your days.  I promise I am not losing my mind, but must admit, it helps J

Today I decided to inventory the port side, which was limited as the boys were still housed there.  I went through our 75+ flags, 100+ charts, floor board storage, hall cupboards, and office.  I alphabetized everything (yes, I know I am a type A anal retentive nerd).

I keep adding to my donated list, must have list, items needed list, and want list each day. I am sure I will have to prioritize each list, but what fun is that.  My heart knows I will get some décor, even though not needed, plate ware, flat ware, and glasses (hopefully with our boat name on it).  After all, she is like a 2^nd home and as Matt said, “you have to have a couch in each home”. I am sure that does not apply to blow dryers, microwaves, or blenders J

It was a long day today, so I hit the hay early and tried to catch up on some much needed sleep – but alas, sleep eluded me.  Tonight was the first time in 18 nights that I did not want to get up for my night shift.  I struggled to get up, but I did it. I walked around a lot, snacked, drank a sprite & sang along to my songs – it was a long shift.  Only 539 miles to go

This is about the end of our planned trip, we should be there by now according to best laid plans. Course you can see that we are still 650 miles away, and not heading exactly south toward St Lucia as the crow flies. The waves and wind are not cooperating.

Oh what a night and day a few minutes make.

Mother Nature sneezed last night then got so upset she cried all night and day.

I signed off, after calling yesterday boring, to go to sleep. Christine wakes me and says the winds are too high, I ask about apparent wind on the spinnaker and its well below the 15kn guideline we set. So we wait that one out, the next time she wakes me up, its now blowing 28kn and with a 18kn on the sail. Okay now its time for action of some sorts. Take a look at the radar and a whole big storm is behind this one we are in now, really time to do something. Spinnaker is still holding strong, the tape is doing its job and its flying well, but in some stronger winds than we would like. I start the engines, also a sign to the crew that they are needed, to let them warm up for some action. Within 30 seconds the spinnaker collapses and refills and continues to fly. Now really time to get crew up to take it down. Ask Christine to make sure that Marvin and Ron are on the move, and no sooner finish that sentence. Mother Nature pealed the center right out of the kite, like it was a perforated cutout in a childs book. All that was left was an empty triangle windo with about 2 inch strips along all the boarders, and all the material hanging down below. The tape repair had held but the seams on the sides gave out, and now its under the boat. I yelled to make sure the engines were in neutral, as I ran forward to pull the sail out of the water, or what I could of it. Then Ron made it forward to help followed by Marvin. The sail only came so far,it was stuck on the bow, and under the boat. Since everyone was pulling at the sail, I went and released the halyard and sheets to bring the sock and swivel back down to the boat. After lots of trial and error we were able to pull the right part of the sail and get it on board, took like 20mins but we have all the pieces. And just like that we are back under sail under jib alone and doing 8kts.

Awake, Marvin took the last mins of Christine’s shift in the rain, and the weather hasn’t let up since.

Ron cooked an italian breakfast, of eggs and bacon – we have lots of eggs left.

We have been rocking to all songs that contain “rain” in the title, so much so that when “It raining men” came on, I couldn’t help from showing my white boy moves. 15 foot seas, are higher than the reefing points on the jib, and overhead when standing at the highest point on the stern. They make Christine a little nervous, but her vulcan death grip is keeping her on board, after about 20mins she was able to relax however and have dinner out at the helm position in the rain. Chicken noodle soup does warm the soul.

There is starging to be some room in the fridge and freezer for more goodies, but there is no store in sight. Not time to get creative with meals yet as we still have lots of planned meals and staples onboard.

Crew is anxious, and wondering where todays weather came from, 39kt of wind, sideways rain, and huge seas came from – but we all rolled with it (literally) and are still rolling along. Also worried about setting foot on solid ground for the first time in 3 weeks. There are going to be lots of funny walking folks in St Lucia, not sure but I bet that island is a floater.

Course over ground: 275 Speed over ground: 6.1kn Total miles through water: 150 (got reset) Miles to destination: 663 kn (as a crow).

Lots of rain and squalls today with the jib out ½ way we were still making decent time and VMG.  I stayed inside reading most of the day and didn’t make it outside until my shift. I had to get my foul weather gear back out and on my body only to have the sun came out for me – love that.

The crew was having a tough time getting along today – after all it has been 2 months since the first two left their homes, boarded Sugar Shack and started this journey.  That is a long time to be on the same boat with one person.

We realized that thanx to these trade winds we will not run out of food or fuel – we are doing fine and planned well – thank goodness.  The biggest problem now is that we will run out of snacks – I did not buy enough.  I seem to be in charge of stocking the fridge, making tea, stocking and placing evening snacks for the night shift and cleaning.  Yeah me.

I’ve started feeding Matt the idea of staying in St Lucia through Christmas but know it will be a hard sell as we are already on unpaid time off –