Location: Azores to Gibraltar
Today was our first full day of passage with our new watch teams, and I’m really excited to be back underway! When you are sailing every day, you get an amazing sense of accomplishment at the end of every watch. You are constantly moving, every single hour is different, and every time you wake up, you’re at a new coordinate. Though it’s true that to most, the view from the bow of Argo in the Atlantic looks like one massive, endless wave of blue, the world underneath you is vast and new and unexplored! You can sometimes witness the ocean’s secrets when they come jumping in and out of the depths (like this morning, at 0500, when Mitch claimed he saw dolphins and 0800 and when Rudy and Rachel claimed to have seen a shark). Today in OCE, we learned about tides; in MTE, we learned how to calculate our ETA by knowing the distance and average speed, and the kids who are taking their yacht master course took their law exam. The classes are challenging but really rewarding because we are affected by the topics we learn every day, whether it be tying knots, realizing the wind is veering, or knowing what current is affecting us, we learn it all in class. Julia also killed it today in the galley and whipped up some amazing BBQ chicken salad and cashew chicken. So far, we have been making fast progress in leaving the Azores. On watch team two, they were averaging 8 knots!! I can’t wait to sit bow watch in the eerie hours of the night and get to know my new(ish) watch mates and take the helm to get us safely to Gibraltar.
Love,
Emma A.