Midwatch 7-9-13

Hi Everyone,

So much for calm.  Starting to not like the North Sea so much.  We did have a

couple of hours of good sailing towards the Shetlands before the winds built to 25 kts and backed to the North West.  The seas are short and snappy and the result is that 3 of 4 of us are dealing with various levels of seasickness.  Finn is fine and fortunately he is in a banana eating faze so he is easy to keep sated. 

If you want to see what you are made of: try changing out the full pee-bucket on the head in heavy seas and then spend an hour trying to decipher Norwegian names on electronic charts while at the same time monitoring multiple vessels on AIS and radar while the automatic steering periodically cries uncle forcing you to crawl up the severely angled and bouncing  companionway ladder and jump on the wheel to wrestle the boat back into a balanced course.  I almost puked just trying to write that sentence.  Then I had to dig in the refrigerator box for Finn's milk, look for a crackers for Mom, help Anna get the bathroom door open and stay on the pot and hold the little pee-bottle for Finn.  Did I mention the kids are begging for Nachos.  Anybody else need to pee?

Dad...Kim wins...you no longer have the record for quickest asleep on the settee. It’s an instantaneous thing for her.

We have changed course many times and are now headed for the nearest Norwegian coast.  I don't want to specify exactly where yet because it is likely to change but Bergen or Aasund are potential ports of entry for us now.  We are in fact

less than 150 nautical miles from the coast of Norway and that seems good.  There is also a fairly large opening in the oil fields that we hope to pass through tonight.

We just crossed the prime meridian and should cross into the 60th parallel soon. We have come far!I could see the Shetlands in the distance when it wasn't foggy.  Still seeing a fair number of boats out sailing...tough people up here.

Current location:

18:50 UTC

59 degrees 57 minutes North

00 degrees 12 minutes East (not West)

Heading 73 Degrees

Close hauled as we can get her, double reefed main, reefed genoa

Spd 5.5-6.5 kts in winds varying from 16-20 kts. 

I think it is starting to calm down.  We will probably be motoring again by midnight.

I’m Really missing those quiet canals right now.

Bob