Hi All,
Well we’re off again. The stop off in Seattle was short and sweet. Lovely to shower, wash clothes and eat different foods. It would have been nice to see a bit more of the area but alas, not enough time. We did the usual repairs, cleaning and maintenance and Harpo, with a lot of help from many wonderful crew members past and present, loaded us up with food again for the next leg. As usual it was sad to say goodbye to the crew leaving us but wonderful to meet our new crew. Some of the new crew have done a previous leg so it was great to welcome them back. We have motored out of the Sound and are now offshore doing some training with the new crew and getting the team slick and settling their sea legs before the proper start of the race tomorrow.
Talking about motoring out from Seattle, it is such a lovely waterway. Snow sprinkled mountains and lots of trees with their new spring growth. There are bays, beaches and settlements all along so it looks like a lovely place to spend a summer sailing. There is plenty of water traffic: ships and yachts and so many logs floating around too. We saw some dolphins but sadly no whales.
Just need to stop for a moment to get some bread out of the oven, Irish Soda Bread. Nice and dark and dense. Then I’ll pop in the potato wedges, they’ll take ages to cook so I’m getting them in early.
Back again, been a while, not that you’ll notice though. The Code 2 spinnaker has come down below. I was the “squirrel” receiving it so now it is all stretched out ready to be repacked back in its bag. Earlier today, just before lunch, we had the Code 1 up and down and repacked.
All good practice as we hope to be flying the spinnakers a lot this leg.
Well I must get back to the stove, the weather is cold, though not windy, and there will be a hungry crew to feed at 5.30 and 6 o’clock.
Hi to everyone at home and all our wonderful supporters.
Jacqui Webb