Day 13
29 May 2016 | Moving, But Slowly
Rod
Sunday, May 29 Day 13. Last night about 9PM while we were "parked", I felt a little wind outside. Just slight, but maybe..... The sea was flat since there had been no wind all day,, so when I rolled out the genoa, we started moving on the smooth sea in the dark. No moon until very late now. Soon, we were zipping along at 5 to 6 knots. Wonderful. The angle was just right and the smooth sea didn't upset the boat. We were able to carry this until the morning when we stopped the boat to raise the main. Didn't want to do it in the dark. Then we made good speed all day and salvaged an 85 mile day yesterday. Then, about 5 pm tonight, the wind quit again. This time the wind had been blowing up a little sea all day, and the very light sea trick didn't work because of that. The sea just kept stopping the boat, there wasn't enough kenetic energy to just push through the sea and we had to start from almost still all over and over and over again. Right now, I have altered our course to allow just a slight bit of south in it. Otherwise , we are heading east. We don't want to go north into the blow that is going to pass above us, so we will get the little bit of north back after the blow. meanwhile the boat is moving. Kind of like the Volvo Ocean racer's strategy. A few more miles, but a net plus due to better speed. (Don't worry, we did the calc.)
Since it is so light and easy to move around, Elisabeth made a bread AND a pizza tonight for dinner. Oh my, it was wonderful. I was outside struggling with getting the boat to move while this was going on. When she finished, she came and helped me trim for light air. She has a better feel for light air than I do. Is she amazing? Yes. Lucky me.
Doug and Maureen, thank you for your comment and invitation. We would love to come see you. Not sure when we would be there as we are looking to wintering over in Seward, but let's keep in touch. We will be sailing that way in the not too distant future.
Mary. Thank you for those good wishes, and give yourself and Alan a big hug for us, eh?
And Linda. We still have your tea leaf garland draped over our hatchway. Thought you might like to hear that.
Ok, everyone, I will go and try and get the best out of this light air while Elisabeth sleeps. We send our best to all of you.
As always, be excellent to each other.
Rod and Elisabeth, "Your Rock and Roll Argonauts" "Les Pirates d'Honneur"