Now those of you who really know me, it is no secret that I am not a morning person. It takes me a while to get my brain and body synchronized. But Phil was excited, still pumped and ready to roll. So with much dullness of wit and lack of energy, I found myself back at the helm awaiting orders. Into wind a bit (take pressure off the jib) while he hauled in the jib furler and then a strong turn south west (to flip the jib over) and then ease up into the wind a bit (while he finishes setting the sail). I still do not know what caused it (maybe the Gulf Stream had a bit more punch than I had expected, or I wasn’t fully awake, or the pilot wheel was still so new and squirrelly to me) but the tack did not go smoothly. When I eased back into the wind a bit things got out of control. I bore down hard trying to correct, but it was too late. I yell at Phil that I was loosing the tack. He yells at me to abort and do over. So there we are, back on original course… headed out to sea at midnight. I rebuild ship speed somewhat; gather my wits and strength and we start over. I still had to work it hard and almost lost it again, but we made it over alright this time. I made sure to error on the side of using too much wind (much to Phil’s extra muscle work)…. But it was better than getting pushed aside by the current again.
Midnight snack, a few more shooting stars and I’m asleep again (this time in the cockpit). Just before daybreak, we tacked again and Phil took his first stab at sleep. I’m sure he didn’t get much, because as the sun rose we lost all wind. This means motoring. Thus he stayed awake for the 45 minutes we ran the engine and then stayed awake until we were under sail again. He didn’t tell me until later, be he was more nervous about the engine than my piloting skills. Although he had spent six days working on it in the boatyard, there was no way to really test it on dry land.