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En route to Fernando de Noronha: Pamuk, Steinbeck & “Le Grande Secret”
The Captain is reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. Mounira and Nadia are reading Steinbeck’s A l’Est d’Eden aloud to each other and Valentine just finished “Le Grande Secret” which is about a great secret (an immortality drug).
Location: 0° 39.8 N, 38° 30.3 W
Tuesday 12:00, 06.20.2006
The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on 20 June was 0° 39.8 N, 38° 30.3W. We are headed 175 degrees at six knots, sailing under one reef in both main and fore and the jib partially furled/reefed. She balances perfectly, with zero rudder. The wind is from 120-130 at 15-22 knots, with a fairly sloppy 8-10 foot sea, increased in confusion by a 1/2 to one knot northerly (favorable) current. We are thrashing along in a less than elegant fashion, but now after 13 days, essentially all close-hauled on port tack, we are all accustomed to it, and know just when to reach out and catch the espresso pot as it hurtles across the galley.
Fernando de Noronha is 435 miles away. We will probably keep these conditions the rest of the way unless we get some sort of unexpected break. We should be there in perhaps four days. The trip log is 1670 NM.
Fish stew is simmering away on the stove, with the last of our tomatoes, lots of onions, frozen fresh peas, canned corn and lots of herbs.
Neptune should arrive on board this evening, if he can grab on as we slip and slide across the line. The polliwogs are increasingly nervous.
All is well.