Warming after a sighting

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By the time I went to sleep last night I just knew I was going to be sick. A tickling had started in my throat and I was having a few dry coughs. Go figure you spend some time outdoors, with a bit of stress from the constant motion and demands of the vessel, and not much sleep. That's naturally a recipe for ill. Thankfully, last night was less cold, although at one point I woke soaked in sweat with a mild fever. Whatever microscopic battle occurred I feel like I was the victor, as today I feel better.

I "saw" my first ship about 4:30 this morning when I woke to check the sails, heading, and annotate the log. The radar is set to spin 20 times every 15 minutes, and it picked up a ship 8nm out that was invisible to my eyes. The next 2 scan cycles had the ship progressing towards Tampa and out of my radar range. I had previously been of the opinion that if my radar broke I wouldn't fix it, but it has shown me its value, and it doesn't use much power in this mode. Its most valuable quality is that it allowed me to sleep easier knowing that I would likely have some warning before a ship runs me down, or I run into something.

The dolphins again greeted me this morning. I don’t suspect they were following me all night, but who knows. The winds overnight shifted from dead downwind to on my beam once again. By 4AM I needed to raise the main for extra power but I was tired and didn’t want to mess about on deck in the dark, remembering how much I struggled last time. Instead I waited until dawn was in the air, but the sun wasn’t yet up. I donned my safety gear and prepared to raise the main. This time I got everything ready, then I deactivated the autopilot, ran forward and raised the main until the battens caught on the lazy jacks. I didn’t struggle, just went back to the cockpit and resumed course. I then shook the offending batten free from the jack, and managed to raise the main the rest of the way without any fuss.

I need to maintain a mean speed greater than 4 kts if I want to make it to DRTO by morning on Monday. This is actually pretty easy lately, so I don’t think I need to stress about it. On another subject, the weather is warming down here and I am starting to feel the past few days on my clothes, so it is likely I’ll take a shower today and switch to some more southerly attire.

Wow, life is so much better after a shave and a hot shower with clean clothes afterward. The weather outside is also a lovely 72F. If only I can stave off this cold I’ll be in good shape!