day 163: a tin full of tarts
Jamie here, Wendy the windvane is going well and conditions have calmed somewhat. I live treat to treat now. Sweet coffee, chips, fried noodles. Before leaving Fiji we bought many many packets of biscuits. My CPD (cookies per day) has reached an all time high. Chocolate chip cookies (40% chocolate chips) are being churned through at a consistent rate. Hand line is out in an attempt to catch a fish. Todays WOD comes from Uncle Tom, cheers Tom, we sees ya! WOD: Treacle: a thick, sticky dark syrup made from partly refined sugar; molasses. Used in a sennie: There are so many invasive pines in NZ that the DOC will need to do a treacle.
Naomi here, Conditions are improving out here, the seas are calmer, the wind is calming, we have finally unfurled the jib and are making steady progress. Last night I got it in my head to make a pineapple corned beef and cabbage dish and today I couldn’t get it out of my head. I couldn’t find the corned beef but I found corned mutton instead and added a hot tamarind sauce too. It was, a meal! That we ate. We certainly ate that meal. And we watched my favourite film Maiden, everyone agreed it was very good. The water is icy cold now and the airs quite chilly too, last night was positively freezing even sitting in the companionway was too cold. Time to break out the thermals.
Matt: Thought maybe I’d lost my verve for ocean sailing but it turns out no its just those very large waves coming in at odd angles and today come to find out that’s not a constant condition. Also sunset touched every high cloud east to west, a rose that yielded to a cream coloured sky
Miriam: We have left the tropics it seems, felt in every chill wind and frigid splash. Though the calming conditions made it quite pleasant to be outside this afternoon during my watch, enjoying the bracing air and dodging the occasional drenching. Such a relief after a few days of either hiding out in the cabin or getting soaked in the cockpit. If things keep up in this vein our foul weather gear may eventually dry out. Three whole meals happened today with Naomi and I focusing on cooking up the mounds of veggies we need to get through before biosecurity takes them away and Jamie channeling his 11 year old culinary dreams with an offering of fried spaghetti which, while better than I would’ve imagined, will not be a culinary staple of mine going forwards. Maiden was a fantastic inspirational movie about the first all women’s team to compete in the Whitbread Around the World Race in 1989/90. Highly recommended. The sunset showed our shift in latitude as well, the colours changing from tropical palettes to temperate in subtle but palpable ways. I feel the transition approaching, the end of this voyage in sight, the decisions awaiting me on the other end, and am savouring each moment remaining upon the open sea…