Day 13- riding the 19th parallel

Time: 1700 Zulu (noon PV time)
Position: 19-deg 01-min N 127-deg 10-min W
Wind: NE 17-knots Seas: NNE 6-ft
Course: 260 T Speed: 5.6-knots
Rig: 100% jib
24-hr distance traveled: 131-nm

We think our bodies are getting a bit more used to this motion and schedule. Our stances (even Grizzly's) are very stable to counteract the roll. We continue to enjoy our overlapping time and spend it discussing the most up-to-date weather, excitement that happened when the other was off-watch, and checking in with how we are individually feeling throughout this voyage. We each have a cup-of-tea during our solitary dark watch hours, and punctuate the time by filling in the log book with our hourly position and weather observation data. We read. We munch. We get weather data from the HF radio. We stare at the ocean, thinking deep thoughts, looking for signs of change, watching how Tao rides each wave a little differently, noting the constantly changing sky and it's reflection playing on the water, and generally feeling in tune with nature and our smallness in the universe.

Windiest in the morning hours yesterday, we sensed a slight lessening of intensity and chose to leave the 100% up. We were rewarded with the perfect amount of wind for carrying it all day and night. We did, however, button up the old blue mainsail cover since we don't expect to be doing much upwind work for the next while. It was interesting to note how much more difficult this normally menial task was in 20-knot winds and 6-ft seas. Together we struggled to pull the lazy jacks aft, hold the cover so it wouldn't blow away while simultaneously buttoning it closed. Shawn found herself bear-hugging the boom during several rolls, being tossed first back upwind toward a wave and then forward a mere few feet from the water on the leeward side and back again. And of course it made us want to add "sew new terra cotta sail covers" to our project lists.

It has been colder and moist, so warm meals have been welcome. Yesterday we enjoyed Cheesy Ginger Carrot Pasta, cold cucumber-tomato-romaine salad and fresh warm golden brown, oatmeal topped, salt water pressure cooker bread (possibly the best loaf of bread that Shawn has ever cooked thanks to all of the previous testing done with Julia of s/v Pisces). Last night on watch, Chris clearly sighted a ship off our starboard heading eastward. He was able to see a change in bearing quickly so didn't check for it on the AIS, but guesstimates it was probably a mere 5-nm away. A good reminder that there are other boats out here to reinvigorate our 15-minute horizon scans. The winds have shifted more easterly, enough for us to cite NE in our log book, though the extra fresh winds we expected today have not yet materialized. Still, 15 to 20-knots is more than enough to send Tao racing along, so we continue sailing due west.