SailBlog

After I posted my blog yesterday, I did some catching up and downloaded new grib files. I also had the arrival email from dear friend, Joan, with news of their passage to the BVI, unfortunately not unscathed with major damages to the boat's mast and gear, but everyone safe and sound. With her arrival note, she generously posted a bouy weather forecast I had requested of her...they were both alarming!

The storm that I was refering to earlier that was immerging from the south is an actual gale and it is not moving E/W only N/S and it actually stalls right in my path for 4-5 days!!! Just an incredibly odd storm...the whole ocean stops and this storm just spins away...what will be right over me, in the center. I am apoplectic emotionally as my memory bombards my emotions with the unsettled feelings of the last 72 hours on IS.

I download more wave charts and start to study the movement of the storm with my progress...It is possible that I can get ahead of it as I had considered before. A short section of gale comes through on the 21st with a good 12-18 hour lull before the real storm moves in later on the 22nd. I have four days to get past 80*E and I am at 72*30'E now. that is very possible... I will have to go north as well to avoid the easterly winds on the other side of the storm...but they are lighter winds and I will just be grateful to be on the other side by then. But as I look at the Bouy weather statistics...it is so unnerving...it suggests a much stronger storm that has no lulls really, and is 3 days long, the seas mounting to 5-9m as the last storm did and the winds are going to stay nearer 40kt this time...It was daunting to look at it.

By this time, it was late and I ate my dinner. I was churning inwardly, sick to my stomach considering my options...Should I stop right now and hove to...it will mean waiting until the 23rd...that is four days laying ahull..I still haven't dealt with the initial frontal boundary yet..it is going through overnight into the morning and then the lead up day plus the lull and then second round of winds.

The other option was to sail hard and get past the storm as soon as I could. We are making nearly 3* per day...that is fast enough to get by the center of the storm and into the dead winds on the other side...even if they are easterlies. The storm is not moving east so it will not catch up with me. I can also sail a bit more north to get into a more NE wind. Just reduce sail and wait there.

I heard my phone tone for a text...Bob's text was short...part of an expression his Dad says about work..." Work isn't suppose to be fun, that's why they call it work". I knew he had had a rough day too. I went to download an email from him but there wasn't one yet...I tucked my self in and found myself exhausted...I fell asleep with IS sailing well, steady winds...I knew that our course would not change nor were the winds to gust. It is a clear night ... the sky dancing with stars, the nearly half a moon over head. By Thanksgiving, it would be full.

I have to say, that I woke this morning easily in meditation as I had been so troubled over this storm...I was definitely feeling memory based fear with good reason as it was the basis for caution. I was distraught with indecision and in this centered meditative place, it was amazing to feel such peace as I posed my dilemma to my inner being, God consciousness to ask whether I should sail this storm after looking at those bouy weather stats... I got a clear answer of peace about sailing on...I was perfectly willing to stop and wait, but it was clear as a bell that I was going to be fine; I was going to experience it all well; it was OK to sail on...

I was really quite surprised to get that response, as usually, I am the one fighting my reasoning to stop or slow down, but this time I was honestly willing to...and yet I had a complete peace about going forward. I didn't question it...I rationalized that I would somehow get ahead of the storm and we would manage fine.

At this point, I so much wanted to talk to Bob and hear his perspective... but by the time I got my head clear enough to focus on the day (the truth is that I had to pee like a racehorse), it was too late. It was 10pm (my 8am). I saw a text from Bob at 8pm that he had sent me an email. All I could do was to download it and wait .... He had a rough day and would sleep through the phone ringing.

I set my computer to download the email and figured I would get a new Grib file, even though it hadn't been that long since the last...

There it was...the whole forecast had changed...The gale is now moving... the whole event was going to be earlier and shorter. It was essentially going to be right behing the frontal boundary pass, moving quickly ahead of me... I can now slow down and it will pass in front of me. It won't be easy to stall for even two days as I am so close to the west edge...but even if I do sail the storm, it is clearly going to be a different storm.

I am all right now as I had peace in my meditation before but now I know why. I will keep on getting updates...anything can happen still but we are good to go. This storm does stall but in a much diminished state and a more tradewind pattern of westerlies fills in...

I can see on my Grib file, the edges of Australia now as I am getting closer each day. I will be close to 90*E by Thanksgiving.though this storm will slow me a bit. Then only 60* to go to Tazmania. At 90*E, I will be half a world of time zones from home...EST will be 12 hours behind my time.

It is a beautiful day...not a cloud in the sky, a fresh breeze, I am going too fast. If I keep sailing along as I am, I will take the full brunt of the storm...I will drop the sail to enough to keep moving and see...it is actually hard to slow IS down. even if I hove to the jib we move at 1-2 kts...still a degree over a day. amazing.

There is no further information I can get on the situation. The GRib files suggest the storm is going to move quite quickly now and the max seas will be 6m...much better than the 9m (27') on the buoy weather forecast. But the only thing that matters is what really happens and there is no way to know that for sure.

So we are moving forward but planning to minimize the intensity along the way. I have sacrificed comfort and wear and tear on IS to keep our pace up...it is addicting to clock away the degrees 3 at a time... but it is not prudent today. The wind is going to be on the beam or closer so that is going to make things rough no matter what.

Late tonight and early morn is the frontal boundary passage...then I will have a lull late tomorrow with the shift of winds to the SW and diminishing to 25kt winds until the actual circular storm makes its way north throughout the day on the 21st.

So enough of all that. What a drain of energy that whole thing has been. I am not good at this part and though I had a very peaceful morning..the more my mind gets all caught up in it, the more I get dragged back into the drama... I have spent the whole day on the computer trying to download models and get emails. Now it is morning on the US east coast and folks are getting going, and I want to get things settled on deck so that we can batten down the hatches for the night. Cuddling in to bed is the real comfort to my being at this point.

IS is already taking tons of water over the decks as the winds pick up... I will be ever so glad to get home at this point.

My sail plan is simple as we are so close to the beam... the jib is free from the pole and as the winds build to 30kts, I will drop the main...It is always hard to know when that is without and wind guage...but we manage. So at some time tonight I will do that, maybe even before dark just so that it is all set...All I will have is to furl the jib if it gets so rough as I need to make it a real small jib...

Onward Ho...At least it is not so cold still... Though the night air is beginning to fall and it is time to close the hatch as the cold air sinks to my feet and breezes across my shoulders. Time for one more layer of fleece and a hot drink...dinner soup will be on soon and then we will cuddle down to read as the boat stands watch for us, taking the brunt of it all. Anam Cara handling the helm. Wise Mother Ocean looking out for us.

Keepin On, Sailin On a Dream... Oh there will be a day when the world stops bounding along...today was a long mental day...my own fault. Obsessing over the details and now here I am ...going to sail on anyway. Dreaming of peacefulness inwardly amidst the crashing seas and crushing blows to IS. Breathing in....Breathing out, Breathing out...twice as long.

Fairest of Winds and the Love of the Ocean Only Gratitude Donna

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