Passage to Mindelo: Day 2

Day 2 ended with some excitement as John caught a keeper mahi-mahi just as I was doing the end-of-day log entry. Our dinner plans have changed; we can have pizza anytime, but not fresh fish.

Our stats for day 2 were also good: 135 nautical miles for an average speed of 5.625 knots. Unfortunately for day 3's prospects, most of that speed was early in the 24-hour period when we sailed for hours at better than 7 knots. Now the wind has changed, as predicted, and we're motoring with the main sail up into 10-knot winds from the southwest. If the forecast remains accurate, we'll be sailing again in a few hours, though.

Clouds obscured the meteor shower last night that had been so spectacular the night before. We were able to hear Herb on South Bound II briefly as he talked with a nearby boat, but then the signal faded. We did discover, though, that he heard us try to check in the first night, so he knows we're here and is ready to talk with us. This morning John checked in with the Rum Runners Net for the first time. It's an informal group of boats crossing the Atlantic, all equipped with single side band (SSB) radios. We could hear our friends Jim on Orinoco and Linda on Aquila, and they're also motor-sailing and are fine. We haven't been able to get a grib-file update since last night, but no real weather is expected in our area.

All is fine aboard Solstice, and we're eating well tonight!

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