By Sabrina. We were sailing fast at 7-9 knots, flying along the wave crests. The wind and swells are always on our port side, and occasionally splash into the boat..
Besides the white caps, only one thing disturbs the water surface: flying fish. All day long, we see them fly out of the water in swarms (or is it flocks?) of up to twenty fish at once, flapping their little wings, barely skimming the surface. This is their escape tactic to get away from predators.
The waves were building and wind speeds were just above 20 knots. I turned off autopilot to manually steer us and surf the side swiping swells. I was very focused on steering when out of nowhere, something came flying into the cockpit, clear over Spencer’s head, and nailed me square in the left breast. I screamed! I had been boobed by a flying fish!
It bounced onto the cockpit bench and lay there. I laughed infectiously, gasping with tears running down my cheeks. This fish was a big one too, almost 5 inches!
The boys joked that the boob fish could now die and go to heaven. Of all its life at sea, it suddenly found itself in a hard place surrounded by huge humans. At least it had bumped into a titty. His friends won’t believe him! Kristian threw the stunned fish back overboard.
Later on deck we found 7 more flying fish of various sizes wedged between surfboards, ontop our skiff, and other unexpected places. You’d first see the gooey blue scales and investigate more closely to find the fish stuck in some corner of our deck. It was like an Easter egg hunt – except instead of plastic eggs filled with candy we got to search for little fish. Happy Fishy Easter!
We even found two squid smothered on the deck, which brought back memories of our first year off Puerto Vallarta when I got struck by a flying squid on the back of the head during dinnertime. It’s ironic they always find me – the littlest one of all possible targets to get hit..!
We never bothered to raise our mainsail all day, the wind was steady 15-20knots, just behind our port beam, and the big blue headsail galloped us along. It was a magical initiation to the power of the trade winds – and the sea creatures we are sharing it with 🙂
9am. Friday, April 14, 2017
Distance to Ducie Atoll: 1767nm
Distance traveled in last 24hrs: 144nm (sailing) Average speed 6kts
Current conditions.
SOG: 6.1 knots COG: 226deg Wind: 13 knots ESE
S 08 25.737
W 099 22.386
Current position… http://share.delorme.com/greencoconutrun
Green Coconut Run 
Funny! You guys ever fry those little flying fish up?
Hey soph!! We haven’t yet tried cooking the flying fish. They are so scaly, and by the time we find them, they are practically baked on our deck from the hot sun. Not too tempting. Besides, we’re still gorging with fresh provisions trying to consume stuff before it goes bad. Our plan is to start trolling the fish as bait hoping our dry spell ends soon! We haven’t caught a fish since day 2 Bonito…
About once a day I pause and in my mind’s eye I try and picture where you are and what you are experiencing. There is something very fulfilling for me to read about each of your perspectives on life at sea. I know as you look around at each other, you must know you have a very competent crew and you can count on each other. Your boat is strong, your provisions are full and now you can focus on your journey ahead. We all miss you and love you, and are with you as you sail on!