What's more than a quarter but less than a third? Day 6 Sat Dec 10

1145Z
Position: 22, 43.962N 028, 01.146W
Wind 18k at 090 variable
Seas 6-8 w/ 10+ swells
Overcast and 70ish

The answer to the above question... Our position.
With 2,028 left to go, and 1,967 being the one third done point we are not quite there. I expect around this time tomorrow plus a couple of hours we should be one third done with this leg. Extrapolating that average forward yields an 18 day trip with an arrival on 12/23. Time will tell of course.

Our winds have failed to increase to forecast as of yet but they are blowing hard enough to keep us moving along at a nice clip and much more would just make things uncomfortable but not add much to speed as we would need to start reefing (shortening sails), so basically all is good.

Its now been overcast for about 3 days in a row but I think it is likely keeping things here a bit cooler so no complaints from me in that dept as well. Last night it was thin enough to let the full moon shine thru, and show an occasional star so what's not to like. When you are sailing along at night, sometimes a star that is low in the horizon gets mistaken for a ship or vice versa, so the lack of stars makes the watchkeeping just a bit easier. Speaking of ships, its now been about 4 days or so since we've seen one. Since we are not on the shipping lanes it will likely be many more before we do see one.

Now that we have established our routine at sea, our bodies are adjusted, our mental clocks set for the odd sleep hours etc, I think the days are starting to move a bit faster as well. Our world out here is about 50' long and 16' wide, and really most of that is outside of the cockpit where most of us don't spend too much time unless necessary due to safety. That reduces the size of our world considerably. At first it seemed like every tick of the clock was an eternity and the days lasted for weeks but now as things begin to blur time is starting to move back into something more like the hyperdrive I am used to on shore. Well maybe hyperdrive is a bit of a reach, but the time is moving faster. Also being fully adjusted has allowed me to get back to taking care of my work responsibilities for my job - I'm working on next years budgets out here believe it or not - so that work is a welcome diversion and time killer.

Last night Charlie and I were talking and started joking that with so many days left to go we were going to run out of stories... While I'm not too afraid of that happening I told him if we do then lets just start making some up and keep on going. Charlie replied that at our age we might not remember what we said two weeks ago anyway and we can just tell them all over a second time.

John and I have been spending the last couple of days tracking down a small leak in the boat. Now before anyone gets all worried it's not a big deal. Boats often have some seawater coming into them. We have electric and manual pumps to take care of it. We figure the leak is a few gallons an hour. There is alot of eliminating to do to track down the source. Is it fresh or saltwater? (taste it) From the front or back of the boat? Poke your head down every hatch looking for wetness, and so on. This morning at 0400 I was on watch and John came up and we started talking about it again, I had a few more hypothithses, and soon we were back at it being leak detectives. I think I've found it on a waterline that goes into a shaft seal. It would only appear when the engine is running which fits the profile. John is not certain I've found it but I give it 80% so we'll just have to see next time the engine is running. Either way - it's not a big deal just one more thing to keep us occupie
d and out of trouble.

Last nights dinner was Shepard Pie prepared by chef Charlie and was a hit among the crew. Today Capt John is back at it and for B-fast we had Breakfast Burritos, egg, sausage, cheeze on tortillas.

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