50 hours, uh... 62 more hours to go!

I got another update from Martin yesterday that I thought I should share.  This email doesn't bring me as much happiness as other ones because he breaks the news to me about my special spinnaker.  Read on...

"After having faithfully pulled AMARA along nonstop for a week, our beloved blue and red spinnaker, that Kym personally designed with big white stars, blew apart last night in heavy winds.  It's not easy pulling a 70,000 pound boat over the swells at 10mph.  She had previously received battle scars during both her Atlantic and Indian ocean crossings, but had carried on.  It is currently unclear whether major surgery can patch her up again, but that will have to wait until she can visit a good surgeon back in the United States.  It kind of reminds me of the horse "Little Blacky" in the movie True Grit who faithfully carried Kim Darby and Rooster Cogburn until she finally was completely done in and collapsed.  I'm grateful I got to spend a few minutes alone with her at the top of the mast the other day.

551 nautical miles (or 664 regular miles) to Brazil

—Martin"

When I spoke to Martin last night the computer read that they were less than 50 hours from Isle de Fernando de Norohna, Brazil.  Although toward the end of our conversation, the computer actually bounced up and it read that they had 62 hours to go.  What?  Actually, that happens a lot.  Winds change, the boat slows down and everything on the monitors read higher, rather than longer.  When you're sailing you start to have a love/hate relationship with it.

I think the crew is a little more anxious to get to land and do some much deserved diving after traveling so long at sea.

Let's just not talk about my spinnaker for awhile...

—Kym