Pacific Odyssey - Leg 3

Mug Up is just coming to a close in the stern.  Jose and Gillian are playing guitar, Antony is on the mandolin and Noah is drumming.  It´s a beautiful night; we are surging along swiftly, the breaking water alongside the hull shines white, the wind blows warm on our faces and through our hair, the sky is clear and full of stars, the main, fore, and port course are full . . . sitting on the wheel box and observing all this while mug up was going on, I felt very fortunate to experience the completeness of the moment.  The sailing has been amazing today, perhaps some of the best so far; finally a chance to truly enjoy the motion, a feeling that the boat is free to move as she wants, a sense that this could go on forever, our community living together, accomplishing things, as the ship moves towards its destination. Today reminded me of the long passages we had on former offshore voyages in the 1990´s, where we would set our sails and not touch them for nearly 3 weeks, sailing effortlessly along with the trade winds.  It really does seem at times that weather patterns are changing and are less predictable.  We found this already on the last voyage; that we were searching for wind or that the wind was fickle and behaved differently than we had anticipated.  Is this a result of the earth warming up?  We left at first light with very calm seas; it was wonderful.  After so much wind and big seas we are all somewhat prepared for uncomfortable passages; motoring for an hour because of a lack of sufficient wind was just fine with most of us.  Tom was ecstatic to be feeling so good at sea.  Soon the wind picked up and the sails were raised.  At breakfast we heard the whizz of Chase´s rod and everyone went running back to the stern, hoping we would have a fish.  Jacob, Scott, Chase and Tav took turns reeling in the huge dorado.  It was a fighter and put up a good struggle.  It was one of the largest dorado we´ve caught so far.
Chase, Tav, and Scott filleted it on deck, then cut it up in smaller pieces below.  At supper, Gillian, Scott and Chase battered and fried it.  It was sublime.  We celebrated Jacob´s 12th birthday today.  He has had a wonderful day; the catching of the Dorado being one of the highlights.  He wore the birthday button, was sung to, husked and cut open a coconut we collected yesterday, enjoyed a superlative sail, and received some beautiful gifts and cards.  Arwen baked brownies and we are about to enjoy them.  At mug up tonight he was asked to choose 2 of his favorite songs; yes, he´s had a great day.  This afternoon we had a wonderful storytelling session by Karen.  A small group of us sat in the stern listening to her.  She´s wonderful at telling a tale, moves slowly, gives lots of details, and creates intrigue and suspense.  We felt like we´d been to the movies or something; it´s wonderful to have someone tell a story and to be drawn into it completely, a great way to spend an hour.  Jose made pots of Lychee Congo tea at ´intermission´, between the two stories.  There are many trainees reading when we sail.  Some of the books are:  Count of Monte Cristo, The Time Traveller´s Wife, The Life of Owen Meany, Master and Commander, The Dharma Bums, Papillon, Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice, and The Bourne Supremacy.  Two lessons were given today, Seniors Chartwork and Intermediates Rules of the Road.  The watches heard life stories from Jordan, Tristan and Leslie today; lots of laughing again, mealtimes really are a lot of fun.  Sam, Chris and Jacob are researching how to make a Trebuchet, a giant catapult.  They´re thinking perhaps coconuts could serve as throwing material . . . all just talk now, we´ll see what happens.  Sometimes talking about a project and imagining it, can be just as fun. It´s late and the wind has picked up.  The mainsail is coming down, to be replaced by the trysail.  All trainees are on deck, in the dark, handling sail. Yesterday I forgot to mention that we had whales circling our boat nearly all day; it was very exciting.  This is it, time for bed, good night. Bonice.