Hitchhikers Day 11

In the early morning darkness the crew driving Altair had to maneuver her between a 700 foot ship and a squall rain cloud that could contain dangerous down burst winds.  This after a night jibe (which Altair crew has become comfortable with) since our strong wind from the ENE that was allowing us to sail directly at the island had once again gone further South causing us to make the zigzags that you can see if you visit the boat tracker site.  Fleet Viewer At this site you can replay the movement of the fleet or an individual boat.  Here also is the link to the official results of the rally. ARC + results The straight line distance of this leg is 2100+ nautical miles but Altair has sailed closer to 2,300 sea miles because of the wind direction being in many circumstances 180* opposite of our destination (aka dead downwind).  This heavy sailing yacht is not designed or rigged to sail with the wind directly behind her.  We have been "jibing" down the course, usually not able to steer directly at the island except for large portions of Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  Finally on my morning watch the wind shifted and allowed Altair to sail on course to our goal.  I had fun trimming sails and steering to keep Altair sailing fast while the wind was as low as 12 knots and high as 22 knots.  Altair picked up 4 hitch hikers today while sailing about 125 miles from St. Lucia.

 These bubulcus ibis (cattle egret) birds spent most of an hour circling the boat and wearing themselves out before bravely landing on Altair's pitching lifelines. 

The birds were so tired that I was able to take photos of them perched from only about 12 feet away.

  My day has been spent absolutely sailing, sleeping, eating, photographing and writing.  I will finish these last lines before going on watch 2230-0130 for more sailing, followed by eating a 2nd helping of baked berry and ice cream dessert before laying down for my between watch nap.  My next watch will start at 0430 which is possible after the time that we will be crossing the finish line and making our way to the marina at Rodney Bay on St. Lucia in the Caribbean's Windward Islands . 

Up Mast (Black) Friday Day 10

Laying on the bow under neath the stars before my watch (turn to navigate, steer, watch for vessel traffic and storms).  I could feel the extra wind that the rain cloud next to us was creating.  There was some very mild bio luminescence in the waves of the bow wake that Altair was pushing.  I could not see on this night the underwater creatures that light up bright green/yellow such as squid.  I was laying on my back looking up at the stars when i heard a flying fish came slapping onto the deck near me.  Sometimes these fish jump onto the boat during the day, but it seems most of them come flying onto the deck in the night.  This misplaced fish began flipping and flopping around on the deck and I could smell that distinct fishy smell.  I reached down to grabbing her quivering body and tossed her back into the sea. 
Captain Clint went up to the top of the mast today to add a backup halyard to our chaffing spinnaker halyard.  I took some photos of him dressed to battle the swaying mast as we sail on the open ocean.

Using triangles, try to imagine how far the top of the mast swings back and forth 113' off the water when Altair rolls just a foot or two to Port or Starboard.  For protection against impact and abrasion, our fearless leader was sporting foul weather boots, knee pads, a climbing harness, deck vest harness, long sleeve shirt, paragliding helmet with GoPro, VHF radio for communication with the deck and the pilot house, and a knife to finish off the gear.  The largest danger facing Clint on the way up were the sections of mast without much to grasp with hands.  If he were to loose contact with the mast and swing to weather away from the mast the slapping return to that mast would at best hurt a lot or possibly cause injury or unconsciousness.

One incident just before Boog (Captain Clint's cool nickname) was to get hoisted gave the deck team cause for concern about the safety of the operation.The helmsman inadvertently pushed a button enabling the jog stick steering feature.  Looking through the windshield of the pilothouse from my position standing next to the mast I could see the growing alarm and call to action inside there.  In immediate danger of a dangerous crash jibe (unplanned downwind turn) the spinnaker had wrapped itself around the head stay and turned into an hourglass shape.  Clint by now was at the helm and attempting to steer the sail back into normal flying conditions.  Helm adjustment itself was not enough to get the sail unstuck; Aaron came out and helped me pull enough of the sail loose to get the
wind into it to fly the rest of the twist free.  In the process of grabbing the line and pulling with all my strength I parted the healing cut on my middle finger from the hatch smash 4 days before.  It was still covered but i could feel that the skin gap had re-opened.  Now sailing normally again, this recovery gave Clint one more thing to fear for the two minutes while Marc and I hoisted his body over 100 feet above the rolling and pitching deck.

Clint made it up and down safely and with the help of myself and Marc on deck managed to reeve another halyard down through the mast and connect it to the spinnaker for added security.  In essence Marc and I pulled a tag line already in the mast that Clint had then tied the end of the new halyard to.  There was more to it than that but I don't feel like explaining it because I don't think it adds much to the story or that you would care to read it all:)

Thanksgiving Day 9

Bang! The spinnaker block came down with a gunshot on the afternoon before Thanksgiving.  The halyard (line holding sail upwards) didn't part, and the block stayed on the halyard for good fortune.  The head (top) of the spinnaker sail dropped 10 feet and dunked the foot (bottom) of the sail in the ocean in front of the bow.  I was at the helm (steering wheel)turned the boat downwind and Clint ran forward on the deck to drag the sail from the water and lower it to the deck.  More help arrived on deck from below and Bob took the helm from me so i could get on deck to help out.  The sock was difficult to get down over the sail but the real difficulty remained after that.

There had been a thick wrapping of tape and material added to the halyard to protect against chaffing.  This had gotten stuck inside the mast and was preventing the sail from coming down to deck.  Can you imagine what it looks like to have 5 crew hanging on a stuck socked spinnaker in the roll of the waves and grunting trying to drag it down to deck.  In the end it took nearly 2 hours to hook, drag, and pop the stuck halyard loose with the Starboard (spare) halyard.  Even our
cook Leanne was out on deck with us to help in this mission.  One minor big toe abrasion on Aaron was the only injury throughout the operation, my healing sliced fingers didn't even reopen.
Thanksgiving Day!

The spinnaker was bravely hoisted on the Starboard halyard and we were sailing fast when i awoke from my after-watch slumber.  Many of the hours under mainsail and spinnaker during the day we were sailing at 10+ knots directly at the island; quickly if not always smoothly. 

At 1200 i helped Lianne in the galley ready our days feast for our scheduled dinner time of 1330. 

The menu included; bacon wrapped turduckens (2 of chicken stuffed in a duck stuffed in a turkey and the whole thing was wrapped in bacon), roast and stuffed turkey (2 seasoned garlic, rosemary, PeriPeri chx), mashed cauliflower (w/ parm cheese, sage, salt & pepper), Brussels sprouts, garbanzo-corn salad with jalapeno dressing, all served with brown gravy, mint sauce, applesauce, BBQ cranberry sauce.

I didn't over eat for two reasons, cherry/berry tart dessert and we had the whole meal again for dinner in a few hours ;)  I just need to emphasize again how good the sailing was on this feast day.  Altair was in the mood to surf waves in 18-22 knots of wind on our Stbd quarter and 1-2 meter waves riding on a long period swell, she was really feeling her groove and each hour of sailing was yielding us more than 10 miles of ocean distance in the direction of St. Lucia.

Time not sailing i kept busy photographing dolphins, laying on deck under the spinnaker looking up at the mixture of blue sky, cloud, and sail cloth, and another yoga session in the main salon followed by a quick strength circuit workout. 

Halfway Across Day 6

Monday November 20th was our day to celebrate having sailed halfway across the Atlantic.  Besides sailing as fast and as far as Altair can do in day (which is always the goal), a few other items were planned on this bright sunny day in the Mid-Atlantic. 

What could not be planned but made the day exponentially better was the catching of a Dorado fish!

 ("Dolphin, Mahi Mahi") Marc and Aaron watched this midsize female jump twice before she hit the lure hard and ran with it.  Altair was sailing at 8.8 knots with the spinnaker up which meant time was needed to get the sails reigned in and the boat slowed down.  With the boat speed slowed to 5 knots, mate Marc reeled the iridescent blue-green and yellow fish in to within several feet of the transom. 

Without a gaff at the ready, captain Clint grabbed the fishing line with both hands and lifted the Dorado up onto the aft deck.  Had the fish been bigger and with more fight it might have stripped all the line from the reel before the crew could get Altair slowed sufficiently to fight the fish.  Armed with my camera, I documented the task of killing, bleeding, and filleting this fish while trying to get little to no blood on the teak deck of this pretty white yacht. 

Fast forward to cocktail hour and the Veuve Cliquot was popped and a toast was made to half way.  Next each crew member wrote anything they chose on a small piece of paper put into the empty bottle. 

Sealed with cork and melted wax this bottle was tossed into the ocean by Bob, owner of Altair.

Also included in the bottle were Bob's contact details in hopes that whomever uncorked this bottle at a later date would be willing to reach out and let him know that it was found.  And finally, after much waiting..... the fish was served; delicious slices of sashimi and soy sauce first.  Next course was broiled dorado steaks with salt, pepper, and lemon next to pilaf and peas.

There was just enough fish to feed the 7 of us, but I would have eaten more into a state of discomfort had there been any left on the pan.  

Digit Smash Day 4

It was another moonless night under sail in the North Atlantic Ocean.

 I was below deck in the aft (back) of the yacht putting a trash bag into a locker called the lazarette. As i was just about to climb the ladder out, the boat rolled to Port causing the hatch cover to close down on my right hand.  I am not writing this message with the turtle pace "hunt and peck" method so you can relax in knowing I did not loose any fingers.  The hatch slammed close on my index, middle, and ring finger of my right hand between the 1st and 2nd knuckles.   With sudden accidents like this it takes the brain a moment to realize what happened.   The first thing I did was to open and close my hand a couple times to be sure that everything there was working alright.  All fingers working, i checked the bleeding rate by licking the blood off the cuts to see how fast it came back.  I wasn't interested in getting stitches by someone untrained on this boat while its rolling , and 2nd worry was I didn't want to bleed on the teak decks on my way to the pilot house on my way to the first aid supplies.  Aaron helped to clean up and cover my wounds and the bleeding stopped fairly quickly. 

I did my two watches that night one handed.  I would sail the next day one handed as well including releasing the spinnaker sheet and sail handling in a jibe (downwind turn). 

Dolphins and Sailing Day 2

We have a new watch schedule aboard Altair for this leg of the rally.  With 6 watch keepers divided up to have minimum two on watch when under sail and solo watches when under power they are staggered to change watch every 1.5 hours.  My new watch times are 2230 - 0130, 0430 - 0730, and
1330 - 1630. This gives me minimum breaks of 3 hours, 6 hours, and 6 hours.

After only the first day of keeping this watch I am happy and feeling rested.  Today during my off times I wrote on the computer, layed in the sun, did a upper body and core workout, 30 minute yoga session, and the things i do everyday on the boat; play with sails, chat with crew, eat good food and watch for sea life.

The first night of getting up at odd hours is always tough so it is understandable that I wasn't thrilled with my alarm clock going off in the middle of the night.  Conditions were extremely benign and there is little shipping traffic to speak of so my late/early watches were not too demanding on day 1.  My morning watch is a "sunrise watch" but we have been cursed with persistent clouds on the horizon and blowing overhead.  There is a new moon but the clouds are spoiling what would be excellent stargazing.  So without a sunrise it just got light out at about 0630.

Dolphins swam at the boat from the North East not long afterwards.  I went to the bow to greet them but as I have seen with other dolphins pods once they got a quick experience with our bow wake found it unsuitable and turned more than 90 degrees to swim off in another direction.  The direction they chose did have another ship that was too far away to see but this was vessel was going East so I don't know what those marine mammals were up to.  I am getting the feeling that dolphins do not enjoy Altair's bow wake for one reason or another.  On other vessels it was common to watch them swim, surf, play in the bow wake for up to 30 minutes but I have yet to see them do that with this boat.

The wind was finally up strong enough to put the spinnaker back up this evening around 1700.  I can't stress enough the peace I feel once the boat is again under sail power and the main engine is off.  Altair always runs one of two generators for ship power but these engines can scarcely be heard unless you are near the engine room.  So once again Altair is sailing along quietly and powerfully toward the Caribbean.  This blog ends here for good reason; dinner is ready and I must eat and immediately get to bed to rest up for my nights watches. 

Start to St. Lucia Day 1

Start day, Altair aims to leave the dock by 1200 for a 1300 start.  Our crew is nearly ready to leave but first several important tasks.  Aaron must find a way to grind his Guatemalan coffee beans.  Captain Clint needs to check weather, fill out some paperwork, return marina key cards.  Leanne needs to secure fresh fruit and vegetables for the passage.  I had a some Escudos (Cape Verde Dollars) left to spend.  In the preceding days Clint, Marc and I had done work to repair leaking hatches and to experiment with rigging the whisker pole up to pole out our asymmetrical spinnaker in anticipation of the light winds we would have at our backs.  Altair would have a limit of 1/3 or less the total distance to motor.  The forecast was showing for light winds at least to begin the first 3 or 4 days.  It was looking like we would have to use a lot of our motoring allowance early on in the race to reach the stronger "trade winds" further West and South of us.

After returning the key cards I set off to the Mercado Central to purchase the fresh food while Leanne attended to more cleaning and prepping of the interior of Altair.  I would have the difficult mission of finding the items on the list, using up a heavy bag of Euro coins and some Escudos notes, and coming back with the correct change and receipts to show for it.  My survival Spanish helped me find the right vendors (Cape Verde is Portuguese speaking country plus Creole), but even then I had many difficulties to over come.  I knew that some items on the list would be impossible to find, but the salad greens and fresh fruit were abundant and purchasing them from street vendors was fun and gave a good "farm to table" vibe.  Paying with Euros for this proved impossible as did getting change in Euros, and asking for a receipt incited bewildered looks.
Next stop at the Mercado "blue" was not successful.  I could not find there "stinky cheese" , frozen pizza, or a spray bottle cleaner called "Vanish".  Next i stopped into a gift shop full of African carved masks, paintings and tapestries to spend my last Escudos on some Cape Verde crafts.  Now i only had to do the hot walk back to the boat in midday sun without any breeze.  We had been alerted that this was an unusual period of no-wind in a place that regularly blows 25 to 30 knots in the windy/dry months November thru July.

Altair got ready and left the dock at Mindelo.  She motored out to the course, headed up-wind and put up the mainsail.  Our start plan of sailing below the line, tacking to sail above the line, and tacking putting up the genoa and racing toward the pin end of the line worked out well.  The timing was good and we crossed the start line near the front of the fleet.  In just a minute or two we passed the lead boats and began reaching toward the back of the multi-hull fleet that had started 15 minutes before our start.  After the first hour of the race boats had spread over miles of the channel between Sao Vincente and the island to the North West of it.  The light trade wind breeze was compressing
around the Cape Verde islands and so the wind was stronger here than it would be when we got further away from the islands.

Altair needed to use the wind here to get as far out in front of the fleet as she could.  Once 5 miles from Mindelo harbor the wind had lightened and Altair hoisted the spinnaker.  With the spinnaker up and sailing 10.5 to 11 knots we were catching the leaders quickly but sailing slightly higher angles than our course to steer (intended heading towards St. Lucia).  Altair crew executed 3 good gibes and were feeling really good about our start to this leg of the race.

After 3 hours of sailing, the wind had decreased to a level that wouldn't move our 114 ton sailing yacht.  We doused the spinnaker, started the main engine and motor-sailed on course toward St Lucia now 2,125 nautical miles to the West Southwest. The rest of the night of cruising was uneventful.  The crew on watch continued to monitor the fleet as Altair increased her distance ahead of the fleet until finally no more sailboats were within range of detection.

Last Day Mindelo Day 0

What is the longest lasting dinner you have ever been out to?  I had a new record set in Mindelo, Cape Verde at a restaurant named "Nom Gusto" or good taste in Portuguese.  This place was recommended to us by an Russian expat we met at Salamansa Beach as being his favorite place to
go out for dinner in Mindelo.  Also in his suggestion he said in passing that the service could be "slow".  Our reservation was set to 2000(8 oclock pm in boat speak)and we arrived and were seated 15 minutes late. It was 20 min before we saw the menu.  Aaron in our party took the note
pad from the waitress in hopes of getting our order more quickly and accurately recorded as she was quiet, very shy and spoke almost not a word of English.  Maybe 10 minutes later we had ordered appetizers and bottles of water and wine.  The water and wine came possible 10 minutes later
with some small plates of olives and "squeaky cheese", as called by Aaron due to the sound and feeling it makes when you bite into it.  This queso is not aged, and so shares that texture with all young cheeses.  Aaron likened it to fingers on a chalkboard when he regretfully bit into this cheese cube.  To his dismay another piece of this cheese would arrive at the end of dinner some 3.5 hours later on his dessert plate cleverly disguised alongside a banana flambe covered in boozy molasses heavy syrup.
Now two and a quarter hours had passed before our table had finally received 2 plates of appetizers, this only after the server (the only server) came to inform us that the "croquettes" were no longer available as they had run out.  Hmm, were they already run out over 2 hours ago when they were
ordered?  The brusquetta was crispy thick pieces of white bread toast covered in heavy chunks of raw onion and tomato.  I didn't detect much garlic or vinegar normally a part of this dish.  One of our dinner guests doesn't like tomatoes, poor luck on that hungry fella.  I shouldn't need to express how quickly but equitably the one appetizer disappeared as we were all famished by the late hour of the night.  I will tell how many table this restaurant has and so how many orders could possibly be in before ours.  On the sidewalk out front sits 4 tables for two of which 3 of 4 were occupied when we arrived.  Inside we shared the long table with a party of 3 who ordered just before us.  They would be
fed, paid and gone before our entrees arrived.  The 2nd table inside this restaurant was a table of 3 who would order after us but get there food at the same time as some of our table but well before all quests at our table had plates.  Fast forward three hours from our seating, our entrees begin to arrive.  Four of seven at our table get plates.  I was not one of the lucky 4, as my arroz con mariscos (seafood rice) would take another 15 minutes to be put in front of me.  By that time i was deep in food debt to two of the fellow diners at my table who had grilled dorado and gambas (shrimp).  Lianne was the last to receive her lobster after they mistakenly brought her tuna steaks that the table next to us had ordered.  She was served more than 3 hours and 15 minutes after ordering her grilled langosta (lobster). 
The food was good.  Some of the dishes were excellent in fact.  The service was so excruciatingly slow that it reminded me of being a child out to a "nice" dinner with adults at a restaurant with white table cloths.  The young mind has a different grasp on the passage of time and so waiting and "behaving" in a restaurant setting for any number of minutes feels like some agonizing torture where even an evil and malicious mind has distorted reality in order to slow time down. One of the appetizers and all the desserts were given free "on the house" in apology for our wait.  Near midnight our fatigued and beaten party arrived back at Altair.  It had been a long day in heat and a much longer wait on uncomfortable wicker chairs while good looking food was taken towards our table only to be delivered to another group.  Bob was in good humor about the experience and Boog was attempting to laugh it off but I guessed he was nervous about his restaurant choice for the group that night.  In the morning we would leave Mindelo with 75 other sail boats to race across the Atlantic Ocean.    

Lay Day 1234 in Mindelo, Cape Verde

At the cafe writing this blog in Mindelo across the street from Marina Mindelo where Altair is docked.  There is a dust storm from the Sahara Desert on mainland Africa blanketing the island with fine ride dust.  All incoming/outgoing flights are canceled today.  We awoke at anchor today in this dust storm of the shore of Ilha de Santa Luzia.  Photo below from last night before the dust arrived.

This was just a 20 mile trip from Marina Mindelo where Altair is staying until the start of the next leg of ARC on Wednesday.  After anchoring there we were approached by a dow rigged sailing fishing vessel and offered fish for the price of 50 euro for 1 lobster or grouper (small red grouper).  We did not buy any fish at that price and after talking they did come down to 50 euro for 2 fish but still no deal.  Marc and I set off in the tender to spearfish around the rocks shown in the photo.  The area had been harvested very thoroughly by the locals and Marc found nothing worthy of shooting.  

Days ashore here have been spent doing some tasks on the boat, exploring the town of Mindelo, and taking this excursion to Praia Salamansa (Salamansa Beach) about 20 km from the marina.  The photo above shows the salt spray blowing up into the sand and rock that makes up the whole of the Cape Verde Island chain.  The wind was blowing here yesterday, strong enough just to kite on but a bit unsteady with strength.  Marc went out to the surf break while Clint and myself kited and Leanne chilled on the beach.  Below shows the kite center and bar at Salamansa.  Owned by "J", his boys are skilled kiteboarders and the entire crew there are helpful and welcoming.  J was very forthcoming with the local knowledge of the spot and its hazards.   They serve cold beer and food from the grill. 

 After Marc's surf session he entered the wave zone with his camera to get some photos of me kiting. 

I have difficulty writing a descriptive way to explain this landscape so i hope the photographs show just how dry, baron, and desolate this rocky terrain in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean really is.  There are very few green plants scattered around once you leave the town. 

The roads are all hand laid stones.  Stonewalls line the roads and are seen surrounding ruins on the hillsides.  In the background is the islands highest point, a mountain perpetually covered in thin cloud

Altair Crew; Clint with kite, Marc with board, Leanne foreground. 

 Leanne launching the kite for Clint.  An atmosphere of sand, rock, and salt water where the wind blows and the surf slams.  I love it here.

The town of Mindelo has been very entertaining.  I have heard from the crew from South Africa that it reminds them of that land.  Some areas remind me of the old Caribbean like Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and likely Cuba though I have not visited there.  The rally control team has thrown a welcome cocktail party with traditional music and rum drinks.  They have made it welcoming and fun for the boat crews, thinking of everything that boats will need and making it easy to acquire whatever that may be. 

Sometimes even though you have had dinner the food just looks good and you order more.  Prices for food and drink are low, this plate of shrimp cost in Cape Verde Escudos $850 the equivalent of $8 USD.  Beers cost $2.40 for large draft and cocktails cost $3.50 to $4.50.  

I have been running in the mornings.  It has been nice to see other travelers and locals out excersizing along with me at that time both here and in Las Palmas.  This is in contrast to everywhere in the Caribbean that i have traveled and been the only person out running, etc. 

The beach near town, families here even early in the morning. 

Men fish from the embarcadero early in the morning in front of a shipwreck in the harbor, one of many wrecks here within sight of the marina.  

Beachfront athletic park with basketball courts and soccer pitch and playgrounds. 

Large painted rocks.  Photo looking North toward Mindelo town and marina across the harbor.  

I've been shy to take photos of the towns, architecture and villages mostly because there are always locals walking around.  Taking photos of people without permission has always bothered me but now it seems worse, like it means more to me to avoid this behavior than it did before.  This picture is a good representation of how the environment is ; there are green things growing in the town centers where they can be kept care with a close eye.  Otherwise there is not much growing anywhere.  All freshwater on the island is from large desalination plants.  These plants use a lot of energy to turn sea water into drinking water so the resource is limited and expensive.  The buildings are painted pastel colors and have a mix of Mediterranean and Caribbean style to them.  In Mindelo the streets are very free of garbage owed to the crews who walk them and pick up the litter.  There are a number of beggars who mainly hang in front of the marina but otherwise movement for the travelers is worry free.  

Day 3 4 5 Las Palmas to Mindelo

Overnight the wind has begun to decrease forcing Altair to sail at bigger angles away from our goal of sailing South down the coast of Africa in a gentle "J" shape towards Cape Verde.

North Atlantic Ocean

ghost bird found dead under sail bag

Ghost bird died on board from exhaustion and so was interned to the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean .  RIP feathered friend. 

Altair gibed one final time in the morning and did her best to sail South and keep the waves from rolling the wind out of the sails.  Eventually, as the forecast forewarned, we ran out of enough wind to move the substantial Altair and had to make the decision to turn on the engine.  We doused (took down) the giant spinnaker and sheeted the main sail in tight to center line.  

Tanker 

Now we would motor with sails up directly on course.  It would be easy to figure our arrival time to Mindelo Cape Verde now; we would be across the line on Thursday night.  This would mean we would sail about 49 hours and motor about 54 hours.   Motor sailing is surely not as exciting or fun as sailing, but it does have its own advantages. 

Scrabble on the bridge of Altair

It also let myself and mate Marc get the salt off the boat on Day 5 before we arrived Mindelo.

Marc makes white boat more white

shiny shimmering yachty stuff

I may not have yet come outright and said it but on this voyage the Altair crew is eating very healthily and well.  Thanks for that Leanne :)  (for those that have read my past trip blogs where i dedicated pages to describe the food prepared, well...... i just haven't had that kinda time but it might happen on the next leg) 

She is exactly as friendly as that smile indicates and cool accent from South Africa to boot

I know that I was disappointed that Altair wasn't able to sail the entire distance.... but the sunset that greeted us at the finish line in Cape Verde was not disappointing 

I will be entering this shot in the ARC photo contest

And so we finished ARC leg 1 in first place; 12 hours ahead of the next finisher.  Boats will continue to arrive until Sunday.  Leg 2 or ARC starts Wednesday afternoon.  Until then there will be little boat work and lots of exploring.  Maybe if the wind blows the captain and i will kiteboard.  You have noticed there are more photos than words here on this post.   There is more story to this adventure of course but its been a struggle to get it down in 1's and 0's for me this time around.  Thanks for reading!