Tues. Nov. 8th: Mad Tangerines.

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29 21.02 S
175 02.52 E

Wind: 3 knots
Seas: 1-3 meters: glassy
Course: 206
Speed: 8.7 knots
Motoring with Mainsail
Volpaia time: 8:10am Nov. 8th
Zulu time: 2010 Nov. 7th

Comments:

This morning a mad tangerine, with long crazy hair sticking up in tufts (if tangerines had hair) laughed wickedly and lit the horizon on fire in tribute to himself. This is reflected in the glassy seas.. for now. The seas will likely be quite different in an hour or two. In the past 3 days we have had more sail changes than many many legs previously. The wind seems to be indecisive on where it wants to go, where it is coming from and how hard it wants to blow. It changes it's mind several times a day.. sometimes several times an hour. The seas also seem to be a bit moody. Last night, Cyrus said that he could tell the ocean was 'being bitchy'. I laughed and said, 'ohhhh... you better not let her hear you say that'. He just replied "It's ok.. she knows it". Then the winds whipped up to over 20 knots and Volpaia lept forward. I could see the grin on Cyrus' face. "Yeah.. that's right!" he mutters. I asked him what he meant and he said "Well, Volpaia has been slapped around for 3 days now, it must feel so good for her to pick up enough power and speed to slap those waves out of the way.. to finally get to push back". And she was more powerful and enjoying a great sail for that hour or so.. we raced forward, slicing though the waves that have been pushing her around. There have been MANY changes since. As I walked up on deck this morning before sunrise, I could see that mother ocean had calmed down after last night's temper tantrum and battle with Volpaia.



Beautiful day.. dark squalls, rainbows and many small man-o-wars sailing through silken seas.... Are we there yet?



~Brooke

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