It\u2019s Sunday morning and we are finally less than 500 miles from Antigua.\u00a0 The trade winds, still perhaps 200 miles south of us, are at least looking like something that we will encounter in this lifetime and we are looking forward to finishing up our run with a few days of easy trade wind sailing.<\/p>\n
We could probably be sailing now but it would be SLOW SAILING and would prolong our trip by several days, something that would surely cause a mutiny with Pandora\u2019s crew.\u00a0 \u00a0 And even motoring as much as we are, the trip is going to be my longest, nearly two weeks.\u00a0 \u00a0Fortunately we sailed a lot in the early days so I am fairly confident that we will arrive in Antigua with fuel in at least one of our tanks.<\/p>\n
While the wind is from the south, the conditions are light with about 5-8 knots that is allowing us to move along motor-sailing, close hauled.\u00a0 That\u2019s not ideal but fortunately, we think that we have plenty of fuel to continue pushing along to make it to the favorable trades.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s not much to report except that there is really nothing out here at all with the exception of an occasional ship that passes us.\u00a0 Yesterday a freighter and a yacht transport ship passed us on their way to Ft Lauderdale.\u00a0 In spite of the big ocean, I had to call the on the radio to confirm that they saw us.\u00a0 The AIS tracker showed that both of them would pass us within about a mile.\u00a0 \u00a0One had to alter course a bit to avoid freaking me out by passing too close.<\/p>\n
I can tell you that AIS is perhaps the most important piece of safety gear to get on a boat for passage making.\u00a0 To be able to see a ship 15 miles away and calculate how close they will come to you, is very big deal.\u00a0 It gives the name of the ship so you can hail them by name.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t very many years ago when we had to look at running lights and try our best to understand where they were going and if they might be a threat.\u00a0 And, without a ship name to call directly, they almost never responded.<\/p>\n
On the home front, Brenda continues to get a lot of \u201catta girls\u2019 for her new book and it is just so exciting that she has a hard copy of the \u201creal thing\u201d after all these years.\u00a0 Yesterday she also taught a class on Zoom to the Rhode Island Handweavers’ Guild. The class was about a Japanese braiding technique that she has enjoyed doing over the years.\u00a0 The technique is not very well known so whenever she teaches it, the response is great.<\/p>\n
And, speaking of the book, all 5 pounds of it, you should check out her recent post to see first hand what a great book it is.\u00a0 More than a decade of hard work and it finally arrived just a day before the second anniversary of the death of Archie, the co-author and subject of the book.\u00a0 Heavy or not, I hope that Brenda brings a copy to Antigua so I can see if first hand.<\/p>\n