Today is another mellow day, with light wind and calm seas and mostly sunny skies.\u00a0 Just a squall or two, but Steve and I don\u2019t worry about those, because they only seem to come when Marianne is on watch. It’s like the squalls are on the same rotating schedule we are, because whenever Marianne is on deck, that\u2019s when the squalls come.\u00a0 So we are calling her Squall-Master Marianne now.<\/p>\n
We are close along the northern coast of Brazil, and can see the long sandy beaches and sand dunes of this region, but not much else, as there are no hills or mountains anywhere near. Lots of small fishing boats, though. And this morning we passed a wind farm- 15 huge modern windmills lined up along the beach, generating power for somewhere.<\/p>\n
The only minor issue today was a bolt of some sort worked loose from a mainsail batten where it attaches to the mast car, which meant that section of sail wasn\u2019t attached to the mast like it should be.<\/p>\n
Although we don\u2019t have the right size replacement bolt, a fat cotter pin seems to be doing the job for now.<\/p>\n
An interesting ritual we have developed, just by happenstance, is to gather on deck about 30 minutes before sunset every day. It doesn\u2019t seem to matter who is on watch or resting, we all wind up out there, watching the sun go down, wondering what kind of display nature has planned for us each day. Will we get a green flash? Beams of light through the clouds? The red ball of lava sinking into the sea?\u00a0 With cameras ready, we just relax and watch it unfold, our own private show.<\/p>\n
02.47S\u00a0 41.35W\u00a0\u00a0 2316nm gone,\u00a0 2798nm to go.\u00a0\u00a0 2:30pm\u00a0 7\/13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today is another mellow day, with light wind and calm seas and mostly sunny skies.\u00a0 Just a squall or two, but Steve and I don\u2019t worry about those, because they only seem to come when Marianne is on watch. It’s … Continue reading