Day 13: 21 November 2016

Because the winds were so consistent, still about 18-20 knots from the East, we spent the day focused on food and games. Angela and the kids made up Boat Bingo cards and prizes. The prizes were Marzipan figures of marine life (turtles, sea horses, crabs, etc) that the kids made themselves from a sheet of Marzipan. Angela laid down plastic wrap on the table, asked the kids to wash their hands three times (!), and let them have fun with food.

Meanwhile, Angela prepared the best homemade pizza that has ever been served on Laridae or enjoyed in the mid-Atlantic. The crust was made from scratch and topped with tomato paste, real mozzarella cheese, green olives, and fire roasted red peppers. It was enjoyed by all and there were no leftovers.

We enjoyed playing Boat Bingo in the cockpit during cocktail hour. Prizes were awarded for a variety of reasons (we don’t take Boat Bingo too seriously).

The evening was concluded with another outstanding meal prepared by Chef Angela – Indian Curry. This curry was not from cans; Angela prepared it from scratch with a variety of fresh ingredients — very impressive, considering we have been away from the produce market for 13 days!

Overnight, the pleasant sailing slowly came to an end as we moved into a region of more active squalls. The winds within the squall were not too intense; sometimes increasing from about 20 knots to 25 knots. However, the change of direction was surprising. The wind would quickly change over 90 degrees! Our steady Easterly winds would sometimes veer to come from the SW. If you reviewed our tracker map (on the Find Us! section of our website), you may see some squiggly steering as we kept the boat going through the variable conditions. Our normal night watch actives, watching the stars and listening to podcasts, was interrupted by the need to actually sail the boat.

Despite the crazy end to the day, we managed a decent daily run of 142 miles. Now that we are within about 250 miles of Barbados, we are hoping to arrive mid-day on Thursday, 24 November (American Thanksgiving!).