Monday, November 24, 200828 34.050N, 66 27.577WHello from the high seas!  Marnie here.After yesterday’s rundown by the numbers, today I’ll just include tidbits of information as I think of them.Food: While we were working so hard to sail the boat, all so cold and exhausted, and bouncing and rocking and rolling, we ate our 3 one pot meals. Then, when we learned we would have a big low form on top of us, Danielle and I made lots of ham sandwiches for easy eating. Along with yogurt and fruit we were well sustained. But best of all for our moral, as well as our stomachs, was the fresh baked goods sent along by Michelle Pages (and family), Nikki Jacobsen, and Danielle’s friend Kathy: pumpkin bread, brownies and chocolate chip cookies. Thank you! Thank you, and thank you again! Once things settled down yesterday (it’s only blowing 25-30 with waves down to 8′-10′), we have begun to eat proper meals. Last night Danielle prepared the most wonderful pork tenderloin with a spicy Caribbean sauce, and today she turned leftover ham sandwiches into savory bread pudding topped with salad. She has prepared a pear compote to go over ice cream for Jake to serve with his lasagna tonight. Wow! Is it ever nice to have a professional chef aboard! Now don’t you wish you were here?Baths: Were had by (almost all). The brave men all bathed and showered on the back deck and came out glowing. The air temperature is 72 and water temperature is 75, but given the 25 knot north wind, Danielle and I both opted for the indoor shower. Perhaps tomorrow for the saltwater bathtub on the back deck. My feeling is that if I have to wear foulies on watch, I’m not ready to wear my swim suit on the back deck.Jake here:Sailing: Avalanche has been very impressive so far. She has more than delivered in the rough weather, keeping us all safe while she took on the mighty waves. As you can see from Danielle’s photo on the site, she faught a valiant battle! The picture is what we call a gutter wave. It came into the boat from the low side, usually caused by Avalanche’s rolling off a wave. In the shot, the wind has subsided to 40-45 knots and we had up a partial staysail and a small main. We have a preventer on the boom to keep it in place in a case like this, but we did not have it as tight as we should have, hence the mainsheet is a little loose. This wave soaked Peter who was on watch on the low side and tossed Marnie from her bunk! And Avalanche stood tall to them all.As awsome as this shot is, a high side blaster is much worse. In this case a breaking wave crashes over the high side. These waves have much more force and toss the crew around, floating in the wave if it is big enough. And it was—several times! The wave that did the most damage broke over the aft section of the boat while I was on watch. It came on board about 3 feet above the deck. We had canvas lee cloths up to keep the splash off the crew and the wave exploded a hole in the canvas. Unfortunately the canvas held long enough to break one stanchion and seriously bend another, and swept away our Avalanche life ring as well ( we just hope whoever finds it doesn’t worry about us). The wave also slammed into the dodger, but as a true testament to its design, it took the pounding intact. I was sitting in the steering cockpit on the low side as the wave exploded into the cockpit. It was over my head slamming my body back into the voyaging cushions and then floating me up off my seat! I was able to grab one of the handholds nearby and ended up with no damage, soaked from head to toe, with one hell of a sea story. I, like all of the crew throughout this whole ordeal, wore a teathered life jacket so I knew I would stay with the boat.It was really exciting to experience this impressive statement by Mother Nature, but I was very confident in Avalanche’s ability to weather the storm.All the best from the crew of Avalanche eagerly anticipating a bright sunny day with warm breezes and a bath on the back deck.