January 21, 2005

After a week of provisioning and repairing for our trip, we were ready...we 
hope!!!  Shawn and Jon came on the 20th with smiling faces and some special 
treats they brought from the states.

We left today at 10 a.m. out of Las Palmas, in the Canary Islands after we 
filled our water and fuel tanks. We had a good start with all three sails up 
for a few hours, then no wind and down they came!!!  We have been motoring for 
several hours.  At one point, we had to shut off the engine because the 
thermostat was not working.  When the engine cooled down, Rudy, our hero, fixed 
the problem and we were on our way.  The rest of the night we had no problems.  
Since it was out first night, I had made chicken soup to soothe out stomachs 
and it seemed to work.

Day two: In the morning around 7 a.m., the wind picked up and we shut off the 
engine and put up the sails. We have been traveling about 6-7 knots the first 
part of the day and then sailed about 5-6 knots through my shift which was done 
at midnight. Tonight we had the rest of the chicken soup, spinach salad and 
pork chops in the cockpit watching the setting sun!!!

Sunday the 23rd:  We sailed through the night and the only visitors we had 
were some dolphins who said hello to Rudy who was on watch (midnight to 3 
a.m.).  We put the engine on at noon for an a couple of hours to charge the 
batteries.  We only have 3780 miles to go to Florida!!!!