SV AMARI

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TransAtlantic Day 9: Complete Isolation, and What Food Is Left??

For those who really want to get away from it all, I’ve found a lovely spot for you. A spacious back yard, spectacular views of the sunrise AND sunset, and no risk of some lousy developer putting up a condo or TGIFridays outside your back porch to obstruct your view.

Excellent schools (of fish) nearby, although you wouldn't want to walk there. And speaking of which, this locale includes all you can eat fish. Every day! In fact, some of them will actually fly right up onto your deck. The commute to work is a bit of a haul, but you never have to worry about traffic, so.

Complete Isolation

This morning at about 6am we reached the half way point. We are 1000 miles from Cape Verde, 1000 miles from St. Lucia. There is a full 5 miles of ocean below us, and 7.5 miles of air above us before you reach outer space. This is the depth and breadth of our isolation.

Will We Starve?

A quick survey of the fridge showed that we are almost out of fresh veg. There are some rapidly softening tomatoes, two zuchs that have held on admirably, and some apples awaiting my peanut butter. But there’s also root veg: cabbage, potato, butternut squash, and half of a sweet potato.

But wait, there’s more. We have our “carb cabinet” with dried foods that will last almost as long as a Twinkie (grits, pastas, rice, corn meal, crackers, and a gigantic bag of corn starch that we JUST NOW discovered was NOT corn meal!).

And with all that meat in the freezer and the canned tuna, salmon, and beans out the wa-zoo we should survive, somehow.

Weather Weirdness

Normally sailors are worried about freak storms, rogue waves, random Somali pirates (even when not in Somalia), the Kraken, and giant squid astern.

For us though, none of those horrors can hold a candle to the terror of the seas that awaits us tomorrow.

Doldrums

According to the internet, our wind should be total crap on Saturday. Like the trade winds have gone all wheezy and asthmatic, and we expect to bob about with 2 sails afloggin' (which sounds like a verse from the not-so-famous Christmas carol, the 12 Sailor Days of Christmas).

It’s awful, and honestly the lack of blow is what sucks the most.

Fortunately it’s supposed to pick up in just one day, which should keep the crew from saying “the hell with it, I’m swimming to St. Lucia!”.

Assuming we can somehow survive Doldrum Saturday and keep most of the crew on board and semi-sane, we expect those fair winds and following seas for the remainder of the trip.