SailBlog

There was no time to think this morning...the winds had shifted and were filing in galing...it was just dawn after a good night of lighter steady SE winds, but it only took a moment for the front line to go over and I had to get sail out of the air...

I threw on clothes as the port rail was submerging...that first sting of the night's bitter cold air hit me and I had to catch my breath. I was going to need all my gear on. The winds were to come in from the SW and given I was on a ENE course...I would need to set the pole.

I grabbed the plastic bags from the storage box on the floor that I sit on... they work great inside my waders. I was going to be reefing the main down and maybe pulling the whole thing down by the sounds of things above...

I started with the main, the second and third reef. It seemed as if the wind was going to back to SW and blow hard as the forecast had suggested so I got things ready, furled the jib in, then set the whisker pole and as I was setting it, the wind began to gust hard... I didn't even get it set when I realized that the wind was not backing...it was clocking to SSE or at least S. It was going to blow hard again from the South... so I let the jib sheet out and furled it all back in, got the pole set to sit on the bow pulpit incase I needed it later and got the jib set to lee. By the time I got a hanky of a jib out, it was gustin over 30kts, we were crashing on the port rail. I got the mainsail down and we went with just the jib...I was fine with that. it would be easier as the winds backed... I had to get the sail tied up onto the boom as I had to reposition the jib sheet back through the spinnaker block aft, so we are back to where the jb sheet abraids the mainsail if it hangs over the boom.

It was an hour before I stood back, the seas blowing more water in the air than in the sea with the gusts and just exclaimed...how can it be.?? Here we are still sailing a south wind or even a ESE as I have to steer ahead of the beam for a point of sail to steer a 90*T course. It was going to be a long bashing day... it was raining now...even pouring... I tried to catch rain once i was down to just the jib... I steered the boat downwind and it was raining fairly hard, but it was blowing so so hard that the rain wasn't collecting on the deck nor could I get it off the boom...It was running down to the mast, but as it fell, it blew away... I was not so cold and even my hands seemed to have gotten through the painful bitter cold stage with the work at hand.

I finally got it all set and it is barely 0530am..but I decide to have my tea and breakfast to warm up...I was hungry as I have been eating my dinner fairly early. As I finished it up...I just listened and kept checking the compass as the winds howled above, the rain, I had to try to keep from getting negative...it just is what it is...it isn't horrible or so so cold...it just is what it is. I don't have to judge it...just manage it.

I decided to download emails to see how my Bob was making out with his charter to the Bahamas... All was going well...Bob was enjoying his breakfast at a hotel there in West End, GREat Bahams Island... Oh man...I would love to be there... he sent a nice message...he would be home that evening... it is about that time when I am reading the email... We ended up catching up with some texts...it is always great when we can have 'real time' chat whether by phone or text...

I also had a wonderful email from a very special lady... It was the very day we met ...in fact it was our initiating long chat that opened the catalystic energy for me to decide it was time to sail around the world again...and I was going to do it non-stop.

Bob and I had just happened to noitce this gorgeous dark green traditional Cherubini sail boat sailing in NY harbor when we were on a deliery of a lovely yacht to NY ourselves. We pulled in to fuel, and just synchronstically, in came the Cherubini...we were in such awe of this gorgeous wooden classic yacht...we hollered out ... "Beautiful Boat"...to the couple on board. They told us later that they were wondering who we were talking to as we were standing on a beautiful motor yacht ourselves. Bob and i promised our selves we would find them in the marina and get a closer look at their boat... Well, when we went by, the most amazing camaradarie occured immediately. We had a short inroduction but arrangements were made to meet up in the morining.. The owner of the boat would help Bob with a repair he needed to make as he had a full workbench aboard the Cherubini...something a cruiser would have. And my new friend and I would have tea...

And what a tea it was. one discussion and heart felt moment after another spilled out and the moment came...I think we almost said it together...It is time now to do my trip...I had put sailing the world non-stop on the backburner waiting for the right time and life had just brought me to that place where it was NOW... These great folks have become wonderful sailing friends since...How amazing that such a moment in time could be so life changing... a new friend... but such deep recognition of spiritual unity instantaneously... wow.

So... To get a letter today was an uplift in all the rain and cold. And interestingly. it also lead to the change in the weather...The day seemed to improve... The original gusting 30kt winds settled into a 25kt constant wind...the birds all came out to play, and by noon there were blue patches of sky that turned into a beautiful blue afternoon and the sunset of our photo..

Today i go to sleep tired from a real workout...sailing today, a few chores...I wrote an article, besides fielding the weather updates... and enjoying a wonderful friends words of encouragement.

My plan to stop at Bounty Islands is evolving as the weather does... there are some strong winds due near the same time as I will cross the islands so it will be about timing... or I may decide to put out a sea anchor and try to wait out a bit of the weather so that I can get in for a closer look. We are going to see how the weather develops... It is just not very predictable at the moment... I was suppose to have a totally different day...

Even tonight... the winds are now easing a bit though I am still on a beam, maybe a tad behind the beam at a near 90*T heading. The winds are suppose to back to the West...which would be fine if it just 'went there', but while it is backing , I may have to set the pole to keep me on course...and it is then to go NW and gale, which will mean changng the whole sail plan to the other side... for the day and then it backs back to the SW... and then... ... ... ... ...

Bob McD is hopeful that i wil get near enough to the Bounty Islands at 179*E by Saturday..well that only gives me tomorrow and we are at 170*E now... Thursday evening... We aren't going to make it... so... unless the forecast changes and the frontal system coming shifts more to the east allowing a high to drop down...which will open more time for me to get there in lighter winds... We will let it evolve the way it does. I may get a view even if it is blowing 25kt... depends on the seastates...

So... a beautiful sunny afternoon..the sun was so warm as it came through the dodger windows, with me out of the wind. This morning it was in the 40s plus the wind chill factor...it was cold.. And as the sun has gone to bed tonight, the cold is descended as well. But we are cozy enough inside Inspired Sanity and safe and sound. Looking forward to warmer days...Bob McD says it will be above 12 *C , 53*F on Saturday... that is an improvement it has been 9-10*C . Before this last set of gales, it really had warmed so that it was in the upper 50s so I am hopeful of warmer days.

Keepin On Sailin On Caring... A beauty in friendship is the way two souls can set this great imagination into catalyzed action, the possibiliity that is ready to be ignited into the present...the coals licked into flame with the bellow of an enlightened meeting...

"The imagination is the great friend of possibility. it always sees beyond the facts and sitations, to the cluser of possiilities in which each thing is shrouded. in a sense this is what beauty is: possibility that enlarges and delights the heart. " John O'Donohue, Divine Beauty

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

�"Sent from my RedPort Aurora Satellite Terminal http://www.globalmarinenet.com/product/redport-aurora/ www.globalmarinenet.com www.ushuaialogistics.com www.xaxero.com www.transmarinepro.co.nz http://www.mwxc.com Chris Parker weather services www.jamestowndistributors.com www.bellplantation.om (PB2) www.caphorn.com www.marinemotion.com http://sayitright.com www.yoloadventure.com www.islandplanetsails.com www.baconsails.com