Day 2 -- Sunrise, Shotguns and Steak

After only a few hours of mild sleep, I decided to give the crew at the helm a rest and relieve them for a while so they could sleep. McQuade and I were motoring from about 2:30 am until just before day break, when we witnessed a heavenly sunrise and were greeted by a strong wind. Discussions followed between us, and eventually the crew slowly rose to see Ella's sails full with wind. Mac eventually napped, as he's been known to do for days at a time, and things for the rest of us got a bit off course. But we eventually righted our course. With fishing lines out, we hoped to catch our dinner, but there was little interest from our friends of the sea. I attempted to nap again, but alas, the Florida heat in the cabin of a 27-foot sailboat is less than ideal for comfort. There was a bit of excitement as Mac suggested we attempt to lower the center board a bit, which meant stalling the sails and swimming underneath the boat. We were about 25-30 miles off the coast at this point and the water was blue -- and quite deep. They were unsuccessful in the end, but it seemed to brighten spirits a bit.

After that, we decided it was high time for target practice, so I pulled out the 12-gauge Mossberg pump action with an 8 shell capacity. We had a hand tosser for the clay pigeons as well. We proceeded to hoot and holler as we blew clay pigeons out of the sky, and followed it all up with a meal of steak and potatoes on the small grill. If there were to be any grunting and beating on chests, it would have taken place then. No go though.

Fatigue was setting in for me and I decided a sleep was in order. It was short-lived though, and I was soon up again to pilot Ella through the dead winds of the graveyard shift, and I saw the Gulf as though I'd never seen it before.