Position: 06 degrees 16.0' S 118 degrees 12' W
Pacific Ocean
It was 3:00 AM and Maria came off her watch an hour ago, waking Captain
Steve to begin his night watch over Aspen's journey. Steve took his
customary seat in the cockpit, watching the stars that painted the black
sky. All seemed right with the world when suddenly it happened.
An object flew into the side of Steve's face, like the punch from a
fighter, causing Steve to reel in surprise. The object then landed with
a thud on his lifejacket and began bouncing around, wings flapping and
it's body bouncing up and down. A kamikaze flying fish had decided to
try and leap across Aspen's cockpit and missed, landing hard against Steve!
The fish then lay still on the cockpit floor, trying to conceal itself
but the tactic did not work. Steve picked the monster up, all 8 inches
of him or her, and flung the creature back into the the sea.
You never know what might happen out on the trackless ocean!
Each morning we take inventory of the dead flying fish that litter our
deck. Today we counted 16. By the time we find them they are very stiff
and we don't even think of eating them. Out on the water we see the
flying fish skimming along over the waves on their journeys to who knows
where!
Steve ran the Rally net this morning. We talked with 27 other boats but
can't see any of them. We have not seen anyone for 14 days now, but we
are handling it pretty well, we have not gone stark raving mad - yet!
The person with the kidney stones has survived and is still sailing
toward the Marquesas. He is not cured but the pain is manageable it
seems. The others around us still have problems with generators, sails
and other smaller things.
Our sails roar like thunder and snap like lightning when the wind
changes or the seas toss us like a little cork. We just hope the mast
stays upright!
Sail on sail on Aspen
Steve and Maria
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