Let’s talk about the most pressing things on my mind. Sailing and weather. Darn it, I am disappointed. After gybing to go South, I found myself sailing deep on a COG of about 170 degrees true. Then the sun set and magically we were doing 190. I was so excited. Such a stud to have guessed my gybe so perfectly. But that was only temporary as you can see from my track. In addition, I am still a chicken when it comes to spinnakers. If you happen to have followed my race in the SHTP, you’ll know that my sail plan for the downwind run was a chicken’s chicken spinnaker. Now it worked great at that time. Here I do need to man up a little and start flying the big spinnaker. I suppose we’ll try that tomorrow. Marie continues to move to cross our track, hopefully behind us. I will continue to monitor weather forecast to ensure that I stay out of trouble. It would be nice to be close enough to benefit from good winds. What happens after Marie is very much unknown at this time. I need to cross the doldrums. And that is always a conundrum, from what I read.
Spoiled
I do not have a great galley aboard Changabang. It’s only freeze-dried food and a jet-boil stove. But the night before leaving I did pick up four bags of chips. So today I indulged in half of one. And I also had a few Carmelita bars. I had one of those too, in fact two. Boat systems are working fine so far. The only troublesome piece of equipment appears to be my primary cell phone, whose battery seemed to not want to hold a charge. Tomorrow is my daughter Luna’s birthday. It is sad not to be with her and my wife to celebrate on the day. But we did have a little party the night before leaving. I am amazed at how they both are supporting what I am doing.
Attitude of gratitude
Continuing on this chapter, which I started in the last blog post, I would like to mention the team at Seven Seas Yacht Transport. They managed the shipping of Changabang from Antwerp to San Diego, at a price that was significantly more accessible than other boat transporters. They did a fantastic job as well. Speaking of San Diego, I need to remember how great Lee Johnson, the Silver Gate Yacht Club and Rob Tryon were. Lee provided a base and much more. Thanks to him, Rob and the SGYC, the preparation of Changabang for her first sail in the Pacific Ocean went flawlessly.
Final thoughts
Well if there’s a wind shift, it’d better be coming soon 🌬️ Fair winds and following seas.
