Passage to NZ, Day 4

Drew, nor myself, find it the least bit odd if in the first two or three days at sea we barely speak ten words to each other in a single 24 hour time frame. Usually the ten words we will speak are, “hey, wake up.” “damn!? already??” “yep, time for night watch.” Should a fly be on the wall in the boat it might think we were t-total ticked off at one another. Not the case at all. The first few days at sea are often spent just turning yourself over to the boat, allowing your body to tune into the motions, trying to get used to not wanting to fight it, and just learning to let yourself settle in. So far this trip it’s been pretty easy to do just that. I dare to even share that the lovey, dovey talk that ones male counterpart only thinks of speaking when he is in fact THIS far in the middle of nowhere to assure none of his buddies can hear him…well, that might have even been heard a time or two. We’ve talked more on this passage in the first four days then all of the first few days of our previous passages combined. It’s been quite nice.

The only problems I’m having so far are trying to fight off two massive fever blisters and the want to sleep all the time. I woke up this morning with a sore throat and head ache to go along with my two unwelcome friends. The dip in temperature is probably starting to get to me a little bit so layers are necessities for the cockpit. Right now, at 4:30 p.m. UTC on Wednesday (11:30 p.m. Tuesday on the East coast back home) it’s about 67 degrees out but you add the chill coming off the water, the sun setting, and its starting to get pretty nippy out at night. Plus, we’re cruisers and if it drops below 70 we’re pulling out parkas. The pilot berth has become my new favorite place on the boat for this trip. I can crawl right in there, curl up under a blanket, and listen to the miles pass by the hull just next to me as the sounds of the water lure me to sleep.

Weather wise the winds seem to be kicking back in earlier than they were supposed to and we had random Northeasterlies that were nowhere in the forecast. They gave a really nice downwind sail this morning and for the most part we’ve been sailing since about 7 o’clock last night. We’ve only had to turn the engine on once for about an hour. A bit of rain today but nothing that called for foul weather gear or anything and the skies have cleared back up as we approach another evening. For the first time ever we caught site of an Albatross earlier today that flew by to inspect the boat. Despite its rather large wingspan, Drew thinks it was on the small side for how large they are known to get in size. Best part of the trip thus far is having had the company of the moon the entire time which makes being able to see at night so much better. I’m knee deep in the first season of Lost on the iPod while Drew’s using seasons of Prison Break to get him through. 6 night watches down (that’s two a night), hopefully only 12 more to go!