Sarah Pedersen 13th August 2023
We are halfway along our 560NM passage to Norway and have now had a very good day and a half of constant sailing, but that might come to an end soon as we have slowed to 3.5 knots as we are writing this post.
Distance sailing like this is a necessary evil to get through, as there is not too much to do. Until this afternoon we had some horrible swells that made the ride very bumpy and sleeping and sitting was only really comfortable in one side of the boat because of the angle of the boat (and guess who took that side? Steve! Well at least for most of the time).
Sarah had some leftover cookie dough from the day we were caught anchoring at Kapp Martin because of wind, but unfortunately they got a little burnt, so baking cookies in a gas oven needs more practice.
Though the horrible sleeping on a bumpy boat Sarah is now halfway through her book so Steve might loose that challenge ( though he is trying by constantly trimming the sail settings to get the best performance from the boat).
We have had several visits from dolphins, sometimes spending a little time with us swimming and jumping alongside the boat. We can see our buddy boat Yuma a few miles behind and have only seen one other ship (cruise ship) since leaving Svalbard, the isolation sometimes feels a little scary, especially when at times the water has been over 2000 meters deep and Sarah’s imagination kicks in thinking about creatures that might live at that depth.
This evening the sun is shining, it’s definitely warmer and we have both now got past the constant drowsiness and groggy feeling that we seem to suffer when starting on a longer passage and are now feeling much more alive and settling into routine…