Scary Dreams and Flying Fish

After a few days of very calm balmy air our weather changed. We knew it would and we needed it to. We were starting to go a little stir crazy watching the sails flap in the wind and occasionally even turn the boat in circles. It was a peaceful reprieve not to have to fight the inevitable tummy upsets that come with the high winds and rolling seas but we were all praying for a wind. We would have been happy with almost any wind. Nature has her own way of answering our desires and last night the winds slowly started picking up.

First ten knots then twelve and then the winds steadily climbed until the knot meter was reading twenty two knots. Accompanying these high winds were extremely choppy eight  foot waves knocking the boat in every direction. All the hatches had to be latched tight because waves were crashing over the bow and up both sides of the hulls. The air inside was thick and sticky and no one was sleeping very well. Around midnight I woke up with a sick lurching sensation. It took me a few minutes to realize we had gone straight into the wind. The lurching was our boat literally lurching as it dipped bow first into a deep trough only to be sprung straight back up moments later. In my half sleep half wakeful state I dreamed we were on a demon ship heading straight into the jaws of the fiery deep. Panicking I opened my hatch and in the moonlight I saw Jaeden and Dailin wrestling to reef the mainsail. I stared as Jaeden strained every muscle to yank the sail down. Noticing my hatch open he yelled for me to get down just in time for a huge wave to come crashing over the bow smashing my hatch in place.

After  our captain ordered the reefing of the jib and the main we were able to enjoy a slightly better rest but I was still exhausted by the time my morning watch came. Zakary insisted on sleeping on top of dad and I as his little bunk was too bumpy for him. He woke up as cheerful as ever for a baby that was rolling and bouncing on us all night. I harnessed him in and brought him up to the cockpit to do watch with me. As always he was delighted to splash around in his bucket while I released the jib and waited for the younger kids to awake. Eli was the first up and was delighted to see flying fish zipping and spinning all around us. He even found one in the cockpit and one up deck from the storm last night.  I am grateful for these winds and we have been going forward at a steady eight knots all day even though the winds are a little less fierce than last night. I was just wondering if anyone out there has figured out how to  move forward in life without enduring the discomfort of high winds and choppy seas.

8:20 pm PDT, Lat: 14° 55.370′ N, Long: 122° 33.046′ W, Course 201° T, Speed: 7.6 K, Wind: NE 20K, Swell: N 5′ Rough, Cloud Cover: 100%, Barometer: 1012 hPa, Temp: 24°C … Current Location