No Mercy? Damn Straight.

The Sabbath morning was a sailing lesson with how to whip lines, read tells, reef the main, and lower the lazy jacks. The boat sails very nicely this morning and it was fun to really have her sail, but Lee again discovers lots of issues. First and foremost is the jib sail.

The block and tackles which should be positioned so that the jib lines will bisect the sail are not at all near where they should be and are very hard to move, so we have to add new ones. The jib sail itself is too long on the hypotenuse and thus will not tighten up when lifted and cups the wind too much. Finally our jib sail is 150% which is too big for our boat. We need to recut the sail and insert some luffing foam so that the jib will not billow out so much.
We get back just in time to grab a car to Danny Buoy’s to watch the Sabbath game. I have to make up for last week when I was stuck at sea. I hear, even though it was a loss, that it was a good game with some overtime against the Bears. They put my game on all of the TVs and even the large projection screen. It is a wonderful game to watch on a big screen with the commentators booming over the loud speakers. I count this game as an apology to fans, saying “sorry we have been so bad, so here is a kick butt final home game, we won’t pull our starters – you deserve this!” Williams throws up an amazing block and Jared Allen gets a nice sack and force fumble. There is more noise in the metrodome for our defense than the offence, who is also doing some great work with good plays by Rice and Shianacoe. As the Cowboys fan next to me said, “This doesn’t seem like a team that is in the playoffs, but more like on who is fighting for it.” Bravo guys.

To top off this amazing day are the glow worms of Sapodilla Bay. The glow worms of the Caicos banks mate only three to six days after a full moon and then only for 15 minutes about an hour after dusk. There is a spiral of neon blue eggs that the male zigzags through. What it looks like from your boat is millions of neon blue star bursts with ensuing even brighter glowing lines. It was amazing. Sapodilla Bay, with its glowing marine worms at night and frolicking dolphins in the morning, was the highlight of Turks and Caicos.

As this wraps up the Vikings football season, I am ready to get back to work on our poor boat and get her ready for our next crossing. After hitchhiking for a ride to the Do-It Center, the only place to get any hardware in Provo, we spend the day in the rain working – whipping and (mildly) burning lines, tightening the lifelines, and resewing the clew in the jib sail. I really enjoy whipping lines and tightening the lifelines was easy, but resewing the jib sail was impossible. The material is so thick and stiff that it is almost impossible to sew even with the industrial needle I have. After two hours I had finished sewing the clew, only about 12 inches of sewing. Since we have a weather window we decide to quickly ready the boat and head out about 4 pm (just before dusk). Yes, it is time for another crossing. Soon I will be back in the Dominican Republic.