“The Vikings were different [than Roman sea farers who used slaves to row]. They carried no slaves and resisted being told where they could go, even by the wind. Their square sails…could be adjusted to make the sail fuller for going downwind or flatter when sailing close to the wind. The Vikings were among the first seafarers to sail successfully at an angle to the wind, a triumph due not so much to the sail they used as to the graceful hull with its shallow keel that gripped the water to prevent leeway.” From The Complete Sailor, David Seidman.
“It was better for me to set a difficult goal that would be fun to achieve and then get the feeling of accomplishment as well as the fun of doing new [exciting] things. I think it’s important to keep a little challenge in your everyday life and not always take the easy way. In that way you feel pride in yourself when you have accomplished something that was not ‘the easy way’. Challenges are not supposed to stop you from doing what you want to do, they are meant to help you feel pride in yourself for accomplishing a task that others my not have tried…Nothing can help you discover more about yourself than conquering challenges…I can’t think of anything more beautiful than a sailboat on the horizon, under sail. It doesn’t matter where they are going. What matters is that they are going…They are moving forward to a new destination and the discovery is just over the crest of the next wave.” From Latitudes and Attitudes Magazine, Bob Bitchin, August 07.
More wind today, but choppy. Brian supposes there is fowl weather north of us, where the rolling seas are bumping and battering. The breeze and overcast skies are a welcome relief to relentless sun. The anchor is finished and put away. We’ve been lazy after a light sleep, studied some French and motored some in the late morning.
After Brian’s nap we glued Velcro to the cockpit cushions, a tedious job yet satisfying that they are in place.
Sunset as usual, in the west, and the overcast skies were breaking up. A variety of heights, distances and kinds created layers of artwork with the sky as a canvas. Smokey blue cumulous spotted the horizon while cirrus danced with each other in golden and ember hues.
After a delicious dinner, of which was prepared in a lunge stance as to not get knocked around by the rollers, we put up with a boat that was rocking and not enough wind to keep the sails full, so they smacked back and forth for most of the night.
A taste of home came in the form of one of Scotty’s podcasts. “Vancouver is truly a great place to be,” he says, regarding shows that happen there, of which I am known to fancy. I heard another quote, “Home is a great place to visit but I wouldn’t want to live there”…However, “absence makes the heart grow fonder” and I’m feeling a little homesick….
@5pm
14° 23’ N
110° 03’W
Traveled 72nm
~3-5 knots / hour
Breakfast: Fresh squeezed oj, coffee, banana bread
Lunch: Guac and tortilla chips, jicima
Dinner: Tortilla pizza with roasted garlic, caramelized onions, roasted red pepper and 2 cheeses
Green in the Blue 