Comillas49

Modern sailboats have a sail called the spinnaker. It is made of very light material and it looks like a parachute with beautiful colors and designs. Setting a spinnaker is the process by which you setup, raise and sail this particular sail. Dousing it is the reverse process to bring the sail down and put it away. Normally both of this tasks can be very arduous requiring several people

Our spinnaker has a dousing accessory called a snuffer. A snuffer is basically a very long sleeve that can be rolled up or down to encase the spinnaker. This fabric sleeve makes the task of setting and dousing a spinnaker much easier for a short handed crew. Basically you raise the spinnaker encased in this sleeve and when it is all ready you pull on special ropes to roll-up the sleeve allowing the large spinnaker to catch the wind. When you are done with the spinnaker you reverse the process by rolling down the sleeve.

When rolled down or encased the snuffer/spinnaker looks like, well, a very large condom. This has being an endless source of jokes. José Manuel refuses to call this thing by anything other than condom. So whenever it is time to use this sail, the jokes begin. You can see a few photos of the snuffer in action with me rolling down the snuffer and later getting ready to lower the entire thing through the forward hatch.

This afternoon I enjoyed another beautiful sunset!

The skies were red like fire and the sea was like a silver dish.

It was time for all the stinky people aboard to clean themselves.

Now it smelled good. Now we can all rest, for tomorrow is another day…

Esta tarde disfruté de otro hermoso atardecer!

Los cielos rojos como el fuego y el mar como un plato de plata.

Era la hora para que todos los olorosos abordo se lavaran.

Ahora si huele bien. Ahora podemos todos descansar. Mañana es otro día.

Tonight the moon was out briefly. It is hiding again from me behind the clouds. The moon is very special for me because it brings me closer to all my friends.

No matter where you live you can see the same moon I saw tonight. With some luck you and I can be looking at the same moon at the same time.

That is why, every time I see the moon I think of all of you, my friends, and wonder what you are doing. Are you behaving? Are you doing your chores? Are you being good for mom and dad? I am sure you all are.

In just a few days it will be a full moon. So if you see the moon this weekend, I want you to think of me. Because just then, I’ll be thinking of you…

Esta noche la luna salió un ratito. Ahora se esta escondiendo de mí detrás de las nubes. La luna es muy especial para mí porque me acerca a todos mis amiguitos.

No importa donde vives, tu puedes ver la misma luna que yo vi esta noche. Con una poco de suerte tu y yo pudiéramos estar viendo a la misma luna al mismo tiempo.

Es por eso, que cada vez que veo a la luna yo pienso en todos vosotros, mis amiguitos, y me pregunto que estaréis haciendo. Os estáis comportando? Estaréis haciendo vuestras tareas? Seréis buenos para papá y mamá? Estoy seguro que sí.

En unos pocos días será luna llena. Si veis la luna este fin de semana, quiero que penséis en mi. Porque quizás en ese instante, yo estaré pensando en ti.

It is the 3-6am shift again. Weather permitting, this continues to be my favorite time to squeeze some lines.

Current location: N 38º 49′.57 W 46º 45′.13 — 8.5 to 9 Knots and cruising …

It has been a couple of days since we’ve spotted any ships in the radar and even longer since we’ve actually physically seen any signs from any of them. Tuesday afternoon we finally had some sun and, considering the string of rainy days we’ve had, we needed it to lift our spirits. It seems this is the time in our journey where things get emotionally and psychologically hard. Closest things to us at this point is the Azores so there is only one option moving forward.

If it weren’t for all the Navigation equipment on board your brain would easily start telling you that you are going in circles. It is water, water, and more water everywhere, after a while it all looks the same. Reading emails from family and friends is certainly very positive in combating any isolation feelings and writing Sloopy has certainly being very therapeutic for me.

Last night we watched Payback. Nothing like a violent Mel Gibson movie to get you going.

On the works for the first Gear Talk is a short write up on “Working with sails, then and now…” comparing working with sails aboard a Morgan ’42 Mark II sailing yacht 25 years ago and O’Comillas today. Writing about the gear aboard has certainly taken Nth place on the list, but I hope once I get started and now the weather is cooperating that I can squeeze more time for it.