Wing on Wing

All systems normal. We are flying the jib on the port side poled out and the main is on the starboard side all the way out. This is called sailing "wing on wing" and is great when you want to go straight downwind. It does cause the boat to roll some but what else is new with us so far. It is more comfortable a ride than what we have been having.

We did some minor repairs this morning on the wind vane steering system. The control lines were chafing through so Cindy and I got on our knees and elbows on the stern and took the old lines off, cut off the chafed areas and reinstalled them. I also moved a block (pulley) a little to hopefully stop some of the chafe and I put some vinyl hose over a couple of areas to protect the lines. Interesting work watching the water go by you below where you are working.

The weather is grey and drab with lots of humidity and dark cumulus clouds - not stormy and not rainy just cloudy. We have to pick dead flying fish off the deck, and even one out of the cockpit, every morning. They fly up there and get stuck and die. We also have boobies flying around us all the time. They are fascinating and fun to watch, swooping right on the tops of the waves and swells. They catch fish by diving into the water going full bore. In the anchorages we were in they would dive bomb straight down - here it is from an low angle. But, they keep eyeing our rigging as a place to rest instead of on the water. Occasionally they figure out how to land on our spreaders and then we find fresh or dried boobie crap, like we did this morning. So we also cleaned up things again. I don't like killing things but my slingshot comes out when I see them but so far I haven't killed anything.

We are in a routine and just cruising along. More tomorrow.

Couldn't get this out so this is tomorrow (Thursday the 30th). We just passed 1000nm out from Zihua earlier. Today has been the roughest so far with rain, lightning, thunder and high (30kt) winds. Too rough to sleep. The boat is cleaner though and I rinsed off outside after soaping up inside. We also have to remove flying fish every day that fly on to the deck and die, and even a sole squid today. It is still overcast and rainy but the wind is down a bit although the swells are now about 8'. Moving along with double reefs at 6-7kts.

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