Winds are light and we have a current against us.\u00a0 We are going 1.8 knots.\u00a0 We despair.\u00a0 Darold calculates that we could literally walk to Panama faster than we are sailing.\u00a0 He puts together a contingency plan for what we will do if we run out of fuel.\u00a0 Fuel up in Guatemala? Honduras? Costa Rica?\u00a0 Hopefully the winds will pick up.\u00a0 Secretly, I hope not too much.<\/p>\n
Dante and I do schoolwork and Darold messes with the boat much of the day.\u00a0 However, it is not all leisure.\u00a0 Someone is always \u201con watch\u201d so even if you are doing a bit of reading, you are constantly checking the horizon and the chart plotter to see if there are any other boats on AIS.\u00a0 AIS is a super handy piece of equipment that allows us to \u201csee\u201d big ships from a long distance.\u00a0 We can tell what the boat name is, how big it is, what our closes point of contact will be and when that will happen. If it looks like we will get too close, then we can hail the boat by name over the radio.\u00a0 I was not shy about hailing ships that looked like they would pass too close, and more often than not they would willingly offer to alter their course to give us more sea room.\u00a0 It is my favorite piece of equipment on the boat.<\/p>\n
There is a certain feeling of apathy or sloth that settles in while on a passage, especially the first few days.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s caused by getting your sea legs, or whether it\u2019s just inherent to being at sea, but it takes a good deal of effort to do just about anything while on a passage.\u00a0 I think about doing all sorts of productive things, but more often than not, I simply stare at the horizon because the amount of effort seems to exceed the benefit I will derive from the activity I am envisioning.\u00a0 Showering.\u00a0 Cooking.\u00a0 Whatever.<\/p>\n
In the afternoon, Darold sees ripples in the water about \u00bc mile west.\u00a0 He changes Benevento\u2019s course toward the ripples in the hopes of getting more wind.\u00a0 We do pick up a little breeze.\u00a0 We put up the sails and are able to sail through the night.\u00a0 Just enough wind for a comfortable ride.\u00a0 We end the day with \u201cmovies in the cockpit\u201d \u2013 watching a Christmas movie on our portable DVD player.<\/p>\n