a change in course
01 March 2015 | 06 49.638N:088 25.997E
Bill/ Partly sunny
Last night passed as expected. Some wind, some no wind. Some speed, some SLOW. The norm of what we have experienced out here. We did do 110 miles yesterday and that is the fasted day so far. WInds right now are out of the north and we had to change direction to head more southwest instead of the west course the wind was taking us. At that course, we would have run into Sri Lanka and we don't want to go there. We want to go around the south tip, about 100 miles off shore to avoid the ships and fishermen that are down there. So, we rolled in the genoa, and gybed the main and forestaysail(moved the sails to the other side of the boat) and then rolled out the genoa again and off we went. New heading to take us far more southwest of what we had been doing.
Last night was a change in that there was expensive cloud cover blocking out the normal star bonanza we have been having. I use a star program on my IPad(Star Walk 2) to see what each of the stars are in the heavens. I simply point my IPad at one of the stars and it tells me what it is. Neat program when you are alone in the cockpit and want to know what is above you. Highly recommend it.
The rain forecast for yesterday on the Iridium Go weather forecast never materialized. There is more set of today. Guess we will see as the day passes. There is a bunch more cloud cover than yesterday.
A suggestion to those cruisers that don't have them is to install "preventers" on your boom. These are ropes that tie from the end of the boom and go forward and get tied off at a cleat forward on the deck to keep the boom from flopping around and doing an accidental gybe. Not something you want out here and when the wind it light and the main doesn't really know what it wants to do, well it keeps the boom under control so nothing can happen. I made and installed mine long before we left the US and any time we go downwind, they get installed with the lines firmly tied off to a cleat on deck. Then, I can just forget about the boom going crazy. Just be sure that what ever method you use to attach the preventer to the end of the boom is strong enough to not get pulled out. Ours are permanently attached to the end of the boom and lead forward along the side of the boom to a cleat on the boom so they can be deployed easily. One on each side to make it easier.
It's now after 1400 and we have started the dreaded "zig zags". As I wrote above. we have changed the position of the sails to allow us to take a different heading. This one more Southwest than just west or west northwest. We were about 20 miles north of the course we wanted to be on so once we shifted the sails, we started heading more southwest back toward the course line we need to get past the south tip of Sri Lanka. Well, we have now crossed that line and will continue on this course for a while. Probably about 1800 and then reverse the sails again and head back on our original course. By tomorrow morning, we should be back where we need to be and can do it all again. It's anything but a straight line sailing out here.