Midwatch 11-30-13

Happy day after Thanksgiving everyone.

We made one 70 mile step down the Portuguese coast on Thanksgiving day and pulled into a     fancy marina on the outskirts of Bilboa for the evening.  We had planned for a leisurely sailbut it turned into another marathon with 25-29 kt winds for most of the way.  Everything heldtogether well but Kim wasn't feeling the best.  She has decided her body can't tolerate the  medicine so she has taken to the bucket.

The kids did fine.

We had a big meal of local bacon and eggs and Kim made a pumpkin pie of all things.  We ate  our fill and slept hard.  The wind picked up and we had rain squalls all night but woke to   clear skies.  It is still quit cold here so the heater has gotten lots of use.

We checked the weather and decided to head for the Canaries again.  We left about 3:30 PM    local time on Friday.

At 4:00 UTC (local for us) we are at:

37 Degrees 07.238 N
10 Degrees 11.349 W

Sailing 5.8 kts on a course of 183 Degrees True
The wind is about 16 kts out of the North

We have been experimenting with sail combinations for running with the wind.  We are         currently running under a "poled out genoa" to port and big blue to starboard.  We also have our storm trysail up in hopes it will dampen some roll. The mainsail remains strapped to the boom.  So far this combination is working pretty well.

Kim is still not feeling the best but the sea is relatively calm and I think she is          improving. The kids are back to their movie marathon.

Last night we had to traverse a major shipping lane.  30 miles or so of ship super highway.  We had an average of 10 ships in a 12 mile radius for the entire crossing.  Of-course it was in the dark...it always is.  I had a real treat when dolphins set up shop next to us and Annajoined me on deck.  We watched the ships and dolphins and shooting stars for two hours.  It  was one of my best watches ever until she went to bed.

We are now safely in the deep and haven't seen any ships for hours.  We have done some       chores.  I transferred diesel from jugs into the wing tank to lighten the deck load.  We downloaded another weather report.  We have to decide if we have the nerve to carry our present  sail plan into the night or play it conservative and slow...haven't decided yet.

A sailboat from Norway left the slip next to us and headed for the Canaries about 3 or 4     hours before we left so we aren't the only ones out here.  They had 4 crew members...we were very jealous.

All for now.

Bob, Kim, Anna and Finn