20 Years Ago Today -- April 20, 1996 -- Day 12

Sat. 96-04-20 - Day 12 - 13° 31' N  120° 06' W  Log: 951nm

Up at 1700Z. Mostly overcast. Seas ~9', wind NE 17 - 20 knots all day and all night.

Dinnertime was today's highlight. John cooked up some canned chicken with rice for supper, along with a salad. Between courses in the cockpit, I looked aft and saw a freighter crossing our stern (westbound) about 5 miles off. First one of these we've seen since the Revelling Gigalos. Then, as I started to clean up, I saw a dolphin jump past the starboard portholes. Rushing on deck, we were entertained by a pair of high jumping Pacific White-sided Dolphins for about 20 minutes as the sun set and the soundtrack of the Phantom of the Opera played on the cockpit speakers. Great!

I had a lot of trouble with the windvane unable to keep us on course during the more boisterous part of the night, although it was OK when things quieted down. I was damn angry by the end of my first watch, as I was tired, cold, and couldn't even write the log without the boat rounding up.

The highlight of the night watch was another visit by 5+ dolphins for at least 20 minutes, playing around our bow. The night was dark and they were hard to see, but excited enough bioluminescence to see they were there.

No CDs.

Lottery: Dave: 141; John: 140.5; Log: 135; GPS: 137. John wins. 4:5

20 Years Ago Today -- April 18, 1996 -- Day 10

Thurs. 96-04-18 - Day 10 - 16° 17' N  116° 24' W  Log: 684nm

Up at 1645Z. We're really in the NE trades. Wind NE 15 - 20 knots all day and all night. Cumulus clouds (small) and gorgeous blue water in the sun.

John found a 1.5" flying fish carcass on the foredeck, which I made the subject of a couple of photos.

In late afternoon, we were joined by a brown boobie, which landed on the dodger, foredeck and downwind pole before settling in for the night on top of the dodger. It's 0300 local time and he's still there, snoozing with his beak under a wing and miraculously maintainig his balance on this roller-coaster ride (we roll pretty hard at times with the yankee poled out to weather). We've named the boobie 'Douglas', after my childhood neighbour who was nicknamed 'Booby'. [As an adult, I have to wonder how his family gave him that nickname, but as a child it didn't occur to me.]

It's been great, fast sailing all day, averaging ~5.5 knots, and we're enjoying ourselves but for the the occasional hard roll that makes sleeping and other chores hard.

Today's lottery: Dave: 100.1; John: 94; Log: 94; GPS: 103. I win.  4:3. We're getting ~10 miles a day push from the current now.

John made a pair of white bread loaves in the oven (we called it Boobie bread -- no boobies were harmed in the making of this bread) which was very good, and served beef stew, cream corn and salad with it. Great dinner!

We've been without a moon for about a week now and will welcome the brighter nights when it returns (we passed New Moon a couple of days ago).

CD: Sarah McLachlan -- Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.