Pizza! And sailing...

Just another day at sea. Made 173 miles in 24 hours yesterday. Not too shabby. Couple more of those and we would have....well, 2x172 is...you get the picture. Anyway we are under a main that is reefed and full headsail. We are heading as far south as possible but the waves are making that hard to do. They roll us around so much that even in 20 knots of breeze, they flip the air out of the sails with one big roll and then just as quick, roll us the opposite way and the sails go BANG to the other side. Everything shakes, everyone wakes, and so it goes.
I made pizza dough yesterday. Brian made the sauce. Brian use to work in a pizzeria and he came up with this killer sauce. We then topped it with sauteed mushrooms and onions. Adding to that was the chorizo (spelling?), sun dried tomatoes, the very last of our cheese (pepper jack and cheddar) and olives. We did not have high hopes for the dough. The yeast wasn't acting like I thought it would but once in the oven, it rose to the occasion. I am so witty! We devoured that pizza. Today is GUMBO DAY!!!
At about noon our time (Anchorage, AK time) we will have less than 1000 miles to go. Been out here 11 days I think. Haven't seen ONE boat, ship, contrails, anything! Nothing! Nada! Zip! Empty ocean. Our AIS (google if you know not what this is) can see, depending on power of the ship's transmitter, 300 miles or so. It has had no contacts for 9 days. That is something else. No help coming fast if it is needed.
The seas are projected to get better in the next couple of days. Supposedly they will pick one direction and stay with it. Brian said in a squeaky irritating voice last night after a particularly bad set rolled under us, "Hi! I am the Pacific Ocean!I don't know what the hell I am doing! I could be retarded! Look at my waves! Look at my waves! They are coming from EVERYWHERE!!!!!!" Well, I thought it was funny. We might be going a bit mad out here.
Watermaking day today along with GUMBO! I find that you really look forward to food while on passage. Not snacking. The main meal. The time when everyone is out and enjoying the sun and each other's company. We finish the meal and immediately start planning tomorrow's menu. Now that all the fresh stuff is gone, we are getting creative.
So what do we do all day? I get woken up by Ally who has the 5am-7am watch. Every morning I check the rigging, steering cables, adjust the halyards a bit to reduce chafe, a bit of light cleaning and then plop in front of this computer and upload a blog post and download the weather files. My good friend Michael in SD is also delivering weather info to us via my inReach system. Brian gets up at 0830 and gets the kettle on and begins his exercise routine. I go off watch at 0900 and Brian comes on. We both set the sails we want for for the day and talk how to get the boat going as fast as possible as safe as possible. Once the sails are set, I'll grab a bite and take a nap. Michael comes up at 1200 and he and Brian go over the sail selection and decide what else can be done to go faster. I usually come up to join in this conversation at 1300 or so. We then start to get dinner going. Amie takes the 1500 to 1800 watch and then it is me again at 1800 to 2100.At 2030 or so, we have our Sundowner then Brian does 2100 to midnight. Michael does midnight to 0300 and Amie relieves him. Amie does a short watch as Ally takes over for her at 0500 and so it goes.
We love getting messages via the inReach so if you want to drop us a line, please do. It is free!! The address escapes me now but it is located a few blog postings back.