As first nights at sea go, the one coming out of Qingdao was actually quite pleasant. We gybed away from the land and il mostro managed to slip by the other two boats and sneak out a nice little lead of about five to six miles. As darkness fell we had to tack a few times before settling down on port as expected. It was very cold but luckily, the seas were flat and we had no water coming over the decks.
At around 2200 hours local time I prepared a meal of Chicken Ala King or as we call it Chicken with the King. It's one of the favorites. Around midnight I hit the rack, I was freezing at first and just couldn't get the bag to warm up so I went and had a hot chocolate with the leftover hot water from dinner. While I was in the galley I laid out all the food for the next day and put snacks into everyone's personal pouch. We have a minister of the interior rotation on the boat and although my crew number is 11, I always do the first day...I'm not sure why...tradition maybe?
Anyway that seemed to warm me up and now breakfast was done I could look forward to the prospect of a nice uninterrupted four to five hours sleep. I mention this because it usually never works out like that. Something nearly always happens, but last night I got lucky and managed to sleep right through.
This morning the breeze has built and it is still cold but not quite as bad as last night. We are sailing along under a grey sky and I was just up on deck shooting some video. We are sailing through a fleet of Chinese fishing boats, they appear to be working in pairs steaming in the same direction about 200 meters apart and dragging a net between the two boats. It's difficult to judge how much distance is required to safely take their stern. One suggestion on deck was that we may have passed through a current line thereby explaining the fishing boats and the slight temperature increase.
- Rick
