Location: 24*26.625' S 49*56.677' E
After a night of thanksgiving sized plates and probably way too many slices of pie, everyone hit the food coma stage and slept hard last night. During late-night watches, the stars were incredible, and the moon was a bright orangish-red when it set. Everyone woke up well-rested and ready to get stuff done today. Most people were up early working on their leadership essays or grinding out our last set of fish IDs. Watch team four had a strong start of raising and dropping almost every sail as the wind shifted throughout their three-hour watch. Almost as if thanksgiving last night wasn’t enough, as a crew, we killed the rest of the leftovers like we hadn’t eaten in days. Angie changed people’s lives by helping them create the perfect thanksgiving leftover sandwich that didn’t fall out as you tried to eat it.
We started our classes with Oceanography, where we learned about overfishing, trolling techniques, and the effects that have on the environment. It is safe to say that Leoni probably convinced several people, including myself, to stop eating fish and playing commercial fishing. I think that one of the few thousand things that all of us have learned during this experience is how much our day-to-day life and decisions can affect the environment. I definitely have a new appreciation for the world around me, especially the ocean. I have a feeling that many of us will be teaching all of you at home new habits that will be better for the environment. Right after, Martin perked us up with a Trevor Noah sitcom, which had all of us cracking up, before having our last lecture-style class for seamanship. Our nav master exam is starting to creep up on us, which means lots of studying to come.
After class, we dropped the mainsail and probably did the best flaking job that we have done so far. As we have all gotten closer and learned more about what the heck is actually going on, we have become a much better team that can trust each other without a second thought. At the start of our first passage, it would take us forever to drop a sail, but now we can bang it out in 15 or 20 minutes. We saw the most amount of boat traffic on this passage yet, passing four or five throughout the day. We are closing in on the bottom edge of Madagascar, and we are hoping to turn the corner to Richard’s Bay in the next 24 hours. The sunsets in the last couple of days have been almost indescribable. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky tonight, and we quite literally were sailing off into the sunset.
– Cate
P.S. Cate to Earth, Cate to Home – I miss all of you so much. I can’t wait to be able to tell you more about all of the amazing people I have met and all of the things I have learned. I love you!
Photos (All taken by Dylan Hardt):
Photo One: Some of the staff, after pulling together a thanksgiving for the books.
Photo Two: Ian, Mads, Trey, and Noah pulling the topping lift to raise the main out of the cradle.
Photo Three: One of the amazing sunrises that we have seen while on passage.