DAY 19 AT SEA

Distance covered so far: 2249 nautical miles
Last 24 hours: 155 nautical miles (6.46 knots average)
To Martinique: 1097 nautical miles

All good here! The wind is increasing more and more and we are sailing in 18-25 knots (some gusts are also a bit stronger) with headwind exactly towards Martinique. The sky is cloudy and from time to time dark clouds move above us, which sometimes let off a bit of drizzle. But it’s good not to be exposed to the blazing sun. The refrigerator didn’t start yesterday morning. But after Max had cleaned the wiring and connectors, which corroded over time, he ran smoothly again. Yesterday was washing day again (only the second, mind you) :-D! It looks something like this: seawater is lifted on board with a bucket with knotted rope and poured into a large container or poured directly over the head. In calm conditions we sit on the coachroof, in stronger winds and waves, as at the moment, we wash ourselves in the cockpit. Then we shampoo ourselves and rinse again with sea water. Our precious fresh water is only used in small amounts where necessary. It looks as primitive as it sounds, but it works just fine. Dirty clothes are also soaked in sea water with detergent, washed vigorously by hand and hung on the lifelines to dry. In the afternoon, another large mahi mahi was successfully caught. I’ve videotaped the catch, haul in and gutting so you can watch all the excitement later. Due to the increasing wind, the waves get higher and at night they were also quite steep. We were tossed back and forth in the bunk a few times. Now they are getting longer and longer and we can surf them better and better. The conditions still allow us to bake bread and cook with a little skill and patience. So we have a lot of fun and above all we are making headway at full throttle! Max has just achieved a new speed record while I was writing this at 10.6 knots above ground while surfing a wave! With her heavy, beamy hull, Porky can’t really go much faster.
Greetings from the surfing Porky crew!