7/29/14 Wandering Dolphin POS
0900 Hawaiian Standard Time +1 / 1800 GMT
N43 04.05 W150 47.50
COG 084
SOG 5.4
DMG 113 Nautical miles
DTG 1195 Nautical miles
Wind: N 5
Pressure: 29.95
Temp: 69F
Sky: overcast - will we ever see the sun again?
Seas: calm
Sails: stays'l set for stability
Engine: 1800RPM - last day we can motor. We need to save fuel for land approach.
Good Morning!
We are a little distressed that perhaps the sun is gone for good. Did anyone hear anything in the news about the sun? We are all pretty sure it's still up there because it still gets light in the morning but that yellow ball of fire has not been seen for almost a week now.
Last night the temperature on deck was 59F. The kids were trying to see their own breath (while still wearing shorts and no socks I might add). We sailed slowly for about six hours during the day yesterday but this morning there is not even enough wind to sail slowly. There are rain squalls all around us and I wouldn't mind getting a really good rain to rinse the decks and even let me divert some to the water tanks. My guess is that sitting up on deck in the rain wearing nothing but shorts while I fill the tank might be a bit more invigorating at this latitude than it was down in the doldrums south of Hawaii.
EmilyAnne and I are the only ones awake right now. She is down below making some hot cocoa for the two of us. Rebecca made corn bread and chili last night so this morning I made Emily and myself a breakfast of fried eggs on cornbread. We still have plenty of good food so we should be fine for the next 10 days. Someone once asked me how we keep eggs. I think it's pretty funny how Americans keep all of their eggs in the refrigerator. We went for six years without a working fridge on the boat so we learned a lot of tricks but the egg secret was the best of them. Before we started cruising I had read all the different ways sailors kept eggs for long periods... Don't buy eggs that have ever been refrigerated, wrap each egg in tin foil, coat each egg with Vaseline, turn the eggs every couple of days... Yada, yada, yada... Because we were so lazy and all of those methods involved forethought and actual work we discovered that eggs (yes even refrigerated ones) keep just fine for at least a couple of weeks, even in the tropics, without being refrigerated and without doing ANY of the crazy things listed above. I'm sure there are people out there insisting that if you coat your eggs in candle wax, under a full moon, while chanting a Gregorian Chant that the eggs will keep for two weeks or more... I can't say they are wrong either... Well perhaps the hot candle wax might start to cook the egg and it might go bad. We know through our own lazy, "Hey, How long have those eggs been on the counter?"
"I'm not sure... They're probably still good... Break one and see!" method, we learned that they will keep for a really long time. I know the shocked looks that mothers everywhere are giving me but let me say a couple of things before you lynch me. First, we have been doing this for over eight years. Second, we now have a working fridge and would never waste fridge space with eggs. Third (and perhaps most important), the nasty food poisoning you get from eggs you get from raw eggs out of the shell so all clean handling of cooking surfaces with raw eggs still applies. And last but not least, don't worry that you might accidentally break a rotten egg into a pan, cook it up and eat it... Trust me... You know if the egg has gone bad...
Well the proof is, we bought those eggs 17 days ago... Mmmm they were yummy!
We had some really great messages from you folks yesterday and your encouragement really made our day!
To Magda: sounds like you have a wonderful dream and we hope you make it happen. Sorry I don't know of that boat right off the top of my head. If you like my crazy contrary opinions just keep reading, I'm full of them! You can look back at my anchoring post called "Hold Fast". I make some pretty contrary to the normal cruising advice opinions about ground tackle known there too.
To The Philips Crew on Redemption: Wow! Thanks for reading. We spent time in Oriental (our all time favorite stop by the way) I look forward to hearing about your trip so keep us updated. Our kids really loved the Bahamas. We left NC in January about seven years ago and sailed right offshore to Nassau. It was our families first real offshore passage. The Bahamas was a great place to ease the family into the whole lifestyle. Sounds like you have circumnavigation plans though so long stops might not be in the plan. When we moved aboard it was with the loose goal of circumnavigating but with no real end date so because it was more a lifestyle change we have basically become sea gypsies who stop and work in different places. It still might get us around the world someday. The challenge of homeschooling three kids on board is sure worth the effort. Our oldest is off to college and doing well and the homeschooling was a good thing for him. Our struggle was to find enough room on board for all of the books and stuff. The iPads and Kindles have helped with that though. We are considering putting our boys in school in Washington this year... I'm wrestling with all of the ramifications of that right now. Keep sending us messages.
Well we are about 10 days away from our destination. The wind is supposed to fill in a bit tomorrow and we are ready for it.
Have a Great Day!
Captain Tofer, Rebecca, EmilyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny
0900 Hawaiian Standard Time +1 / 1800 GMT
N43 04.05 W150 47.50
COG 084
SOG 5.4
DMG 113 Nautical miles
DTG 1195 Nautical miles
Wind: N 5
Pressure: 29.95
Temp: 69F
Sky: overcast - will we ever see the sun again?
Seas: calm
Sails: stays'l set for stability
Engine: 1800RPM - last day we can motor. We need to save fuel for land approach.
Good Morning!
We are a little distressed that perhaps the sun is gone for good. Did anyone hear anything in the news about the sun? We are all pretty sure it's still up there because it still gets light in the morning but that yellow ball of fire has not been seen for almost a week now.
Last night the temperature on deck was 59F. The kids were trying to see their own breath (while still wearing shorts and no socks I might add). We sailed slowly for about six hours during the day yesterday but this morning there is not even enough wind to sail slowly. There are rain squalls all around us and I wouldn't mind getting a really good rain to rinse the decks and even let me divert some to the water tanks. My guess is that sitting up on deck in the rain wearing nothing but shorts while I fill the tank might be a bit more invigorating at this latitude than it was down in the doldrums south of Hawaii.
EmilyAnne and I are the only ones awake right now. She is down below making some hot cocoa for the two of us. Rebecca made corn bread and chili last night so this morning I made Emily and myself a breakfast of fried eggs on cornbread. We still have plenty of good food so we should be fine for the next 10 days. Someone once asked me how we keep eggs. I think it's pretty funny how Americans keep all of their eggs in the refrigerator. We went for six years without a working fridge on the boat so we learned a lot of tricks but the egg secret was the best of them. Before we started cruising I had read all the different ways sailors kept eggs for long periods... Don't buy eggs that have ever been refrigerated, wrap each egg in tin foil, coat each egg with Vaseline, turn the eggs every couple of days... Yada, yada, yada... Because we were so lazy and all of those methods involved forethought and actual work we discovered that eggs (yes even refrigerated ones) keep just fine for at least a couple of weeks, even in the tropics, without being refrigerated and without doing ANY of the crazy things listed above. I'm sure there are people out there insisting that if you coat your eggs in candle wax, under a full moon, while chanting a Gregorian Chant that the eggs will keep for two weeks or more... I can't say they are wrong either... Well perhaps the hot candle wax might start to cook the egg and it might go bad. We know through our own lazy, "Hey, How long have those eggs been on the counter?"
"I'm not sure... They're probably still good... Break one and see!" method, we learned that they will keep for a really long time. I know the shocked looks that mothers everywhere are giving me but let me say a couple of things before you lynch me. First, we have been doing this for over eight years. Second, we now have a working fridge and would never waste fridge space with eggs. Third (and perhaps most important), the nasty food poisoning you get from eggs you get from raw eggs out of the shell so all clean handling of cooking surfaces with raw eggs still applies. And last but not least, don't worry that you might accidentally break a rotten egg into a pan, cook it up and eat it... Trust me... You know if the egg has gone bad...
Well the proof is, we bought those eggs 17 days ago... Mmmm they were yummy!
We had some really great messages from you folks yesterday and your encouragement really made our day!
To Magda: sounds like you have a wonderful dream and we hope you make it happen. Sorry I don't know of that boat right off the top of my head. If you like my crazy contrary opinions just keep reading, I'm full of them! You can look back at my anchoring post called "Hold Fast". I make some pretty contrary to the normal cruising advice opinions about ground tackle known there too.
To The Philips Crew on Redemption: Wow! Thanks for reading. We spent time in Oriental (our all time favorite stop by the way) I look forward to hearing about your trip so keep us updated. Our kids really loved the Bahamas. We left NC in January about seven years ago and sailed right offshore to Nassau. It was our families first real offshore passage. The Bahamas was a great place to ease the family into the whole lifestyle. Sounds like you have circumnavigation plans though so long stops might not be in the plan. When we moved aboard it was with the loose goal of circumnavigating but with no real end date so because it was more a lifestyle change we have basically become sea gypsies who stop and work in different places. It still might get us around the world someday. The challenge of homeschooling three kids on board is sure worth the effort. Our oldest is off to college and doing well and the homeschooling was a good thing for him. Our struggle was to find enough room on board for all of the books and stuff. The iPads and Kindles have helped with that though. We are considering putting our boys in school in Washington this year... I'm wrestling with all of the ramifications of that right now. Keep sending us messages.
Well we are about 10 days away from our destination. The wind is supposed to fill in a bit tomorrow and we are ready for it.
Have a Great Day!
Captain Tofer, Rebecca, EmilyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny
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