Widago - St. Lucia Leg (6): Sea Turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving from the Atlantic Ocean!

WIDAGO and crew celebrate in a somewhat unusual fashion, in that we usually don't get around to pulling together a Thanksgiving Feast until at least Friday. In fact for the past 19 years, we have not made it happen on time, and frankly it takes a lot of pressure off. Especially for the Galley Wench.

Since early yesterday, when we formally submitted a request to withdraw from the Multihull Category, and are in the process of transferring to Joel's Motor-sailing category (negotiations are still in arbitrage as our sea lawyer ran out of data on her sailamail account, and needed to top off her credits), WIDAGO has enjoyed the peace of mind that only comes from hearing the warm purr of a Yanmar engine. After the parasailor blew out two days ago, Ahab has tried every rig set up we have available to no avail. Either we arrive to St. Lucia by Christmas, or we have to change our destination to Rio or Bermuda - dead down wind with just our current main/Genoa set up just does not do the trick.

While this might sound like defeat, in fact there is a silver lining. Without the unfortunate injury to The Whomper, we would have never fully realized our downwind predicament. To quote our motor yachting friend, "Single point of failure". Now Ahab has a plan for adding a bowsprit and genneker with poles for both sides, so we can run downwind in heavy conditions unsuitable for the parasailor. Always a learning opportunity.

Our Thanksgiving meal will include a pork roast, rather than a bird, mash & gravy (obviously), Boofer Onion casserole (warning: toxic Dutch Oven opportunity), and a homemade Apple/Walnut Crumble Pie. You might notice a complete lack of green leafy veg, as those haven't been seen for hundreds of miles. No complaints from the crew on that point.

Much to be thankful and grateful for today: love & support of our parents, siblings,and friends back home; care and global support from World Cruising Club & Weather Routing Inc.; opportunity to share this adventure, and meeting other sailors/cruiser/motor-sailors as we traverse the Atlantic this Thanksgiving.
Gobble Gobble,
Ali