Pacific Odyssey - Leg 2

The winds have slowly decreased in strength throughout the day, offering us chances to handle sail, but also slowing down our progress which ultimately means less time to explore when we arrive on the islands. At 0030 the main was lowered and the trysail set. We were making up to 9 plus knots with the rail beginning to go under, just too much stress on the rigging. Right after breakfast, second sitting, the trysail came down and a single-reefed main went up. We continued to make good speed and the seas are becoming more regular, thus the motion is less jarring, the ship seems free-er to move as she wants to. Towards mid-afternoon the wind began to slacken and so
we lowered the main and took out the reef, then raised it again and gained some speed. Now it´s 2130 hrs and the main is coming down once again to put the reef back into the main before we raise it again for the night. It´s safer; the main is very big and the sky looks like we may have some squalls. We just had an amazing Mug Up in the stern with guitars (Gillian and Jose), mandolin (Antony), and drum (Noah), finished off with cookies, two days in a row! made by Mary, James and Arwen. It is easier to lower and raise the main with everyone here;  in the middleof the night we need to wake up people. The moon looks full and shines very brightly on the water, lighting up the entire deck. The stars are less visible because of it but we will get our darkness back again soon, meanwhile we enjoy the moon. After dishes tonight I sat up on deck with Simon and Jacob, marvelling at being out at sea, sailing swiftly, hearing the sounds of the Grace surfing through the waves and listening to Louis Armstrong´s ´Superstitious
(Elske had asked me to watch her ipod while she went below for something, I took the opportunity to listen to the library of music she has with her).´ What an incredible moment; sunsets and the moon coming up are a beautiful part of offshore. Simon can find the Big Dipper, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn. He also regularly asks everyone how old they are. It seems to have replaced his question from leg 1 which was, "how much is one plus one?"  For the past 2 weeks forewatch has been practicing different variations on the grace ´Jubilato Deo,´ which gets sung before meals. Sam has come up with some brilliant melodies and rhythms and has patiently taught them to the watch; it´s given us and those watching, lots of  amusement, and the variations keep coming. Often in the evenings, Sam and Karen will begin to sing well-known songs from musicals, seeing if they can sing all the words. I´m very impressed how thoroughly they know their musicals. Elske, Bec, Katie, Gillian and James have joined in at different times, the rest of us listen and watch, singing or humming when we can. This afternoon we caught 2 dorados at the same time. Tavish was checking out the frigate and boobie birds behind us when he suddenly noticed a fish jumping at the end of our line. It dipped and surfaced like a dolphin, grabbing at the lure twice before being caught. We returned them to the sea as they were quite small, perhaps 10-12 lbs. Still very exciting. This morning we discovered a baby wahoo on the line, somehow caught during the night. We had a good look at his jawbone, gills, and very sharp teeth; they were very interesting. 2 flying fish died on board during the night as
well and we wired them onto the lures but had no success with them. I
hear from the girls in the foc´sle that there are mysterious and
not-so-mysterious sounds as they sleep at night. The head makes a
threatening, slurping, sucking noise, that reminds them of some bilge monster waiting to emerge. The horse, attached to the sheet block of the jumbo sail, travels back and forth on the metal traveller, just above their heads on deck and, when the jib is up, the chain section of the sheets, which run out on both sides of the sail, also on the foredeck above the foc´sle, drags across the deck repeatedly. I hear it´s quite something. The intermediates wrote their chartwork and rules of the road exam today; I think the marks were high and that most of them passed. Seniors will write during the next passage to the Tuamotus. It has been another wonderful day; they pass so quickly. Genna S. would like to wish her mom a very, very Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday mom! Land is very close and I wonder what we will have to share with each other in the evenings as we experience different things during our days. English will be replaced by french in any kind of exchange with the locals, a good chance to draw out what we learned in highschool, or not. At the moment, the sailing is terrific, 7.9 knots, and I can hear the surf around the ship as she pulls her way through; I want to remember this. This is it, I´m over my quota and there´s so much I could share. Until tomorrow, good night, Bonice