N37 48 W126 46
2030 West Coast time
We can almost smell the redwoods. If all goes well, we will sail under the GG Bridge late tomorrow night or early Tuesday morning. Conditions are still pretty big out here, and in fact we are under (reefed!) trysail and storm jib making 7 to 8-kts. When the wind picked up to 30-kts again today we replaced the main with the trysail and have lost no speed at all. Since we are going across the wind and seas (which have been developing for days now), the motion is pretty challenging and we round up hard
on some of the bigger waves, burying the whole leeward deck. We probably all have done the equivalent of about 500 abs every day this week, just trying to stay upright. I am wedged into the nav station with the same knee and toe, but have discovered the comfort of padding my bruised knee with a cushion. What a difference!
This morning we were treated to a brief (20 minute) respite when the wind dropped down to 16 to 18-kts for a while, the sun came out and a pod of southbound dolphins joined us to play in our bow wake. George made us some scrambled eggs (our first real breakfast besides instant oatmeal in a few days) and I made a pot of real coffee. It's been so rough we've had to resort to drinking instant coffee. Granted it's fancy European instant coffee that Riina left on the boat, BUT STILL!
The rough weather hasn't gotten any easier, but somehow we've just all gotten used to it, and it almost feels normal. Last night Dan likened it to doing low-impact aerobics constantly, including in your sleep. You can't stop compensating for the boat's movement for one second or you will be on the other side of the cabin or cockpit.
Wow! As I type, an enormous wave just crashed over the whole boat. I wish I could have recorded the sound that just made! I bet George just got doused.
Susan cooked us up some chili for our last night out here at sea, and the sky is clear for the first time in a week. It's hard to believe we are so close to land after almost 16 days out here. It will be so exciting to scream, Land Ho! sometime tomorrow afternoon. Cheers from a tired, but healthy and happy Confetti crew.
Bad hair day!!!
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