SailBlog

After so many 'days off' from hard sailing, I am adjustin in these beginning stages of the approach to the Horn... though I have to say...your prayers are working. Each time I get a forecast and look at the GRib files...it seems that it is mostly 'pink flags'... that means 25kts of wind or less though the gusts can be nasty... I certainly, cannot be anything but blessed... It is still a hard day of good sailing today with winds on the beam and gusty, but an amazing blessing.

But there is hard gale force sailing ahead, todays storm being a warm up..then successive storms, the 14-15th, 17-18th and now a low on the 21-22nd and that now still leaves me 15* or S from Cape Horn... hoping for a break to make rounding...the forecast isn't out that far yet... and there is no extrapolation into the extended journey around the corner... So, it happens that, the book I have 'Single handed sailing' finds its way to my near reach so I begin rereading about all the heavy weather sailing techiniques used by the infamous and not so infamous, solo sailors over the years from the 1930s to the time of this publication 1980s.

Over the course of the pages, including a synopsis by Jimmy Cornell, Richard goes through all of the strategies communicated to him as he surveyed the sailors he has met or the stories of available information... As I look back at all that Jeanne, Pat, Nancy, and I have spoken about, the comments in the blog... all of what has been shared showed up in the dozens of examples Richard Henderson discects. In all cases regarding all potential ways of handling storms, there is always the caviat of the situations that would lend themselves to abandon a technique in favor of another, whether it was a particular seastate, strength of wind, hull or keel design, or the particular situation at hand... off a lee shore, managing strong winds versus a true hurricane. No matter the technique, Richard had a tale of when it did not work with a resulting capsize... He left none of us with any total sense of security all the time...

Of all of the strategies, the most favored was to lay ahull with the tiller lashed to Lee, the effects allowing the boat to find its own comfort zone midst the seas... whether the boat falls a tad to stern or to beam... the sideways motion on the hull freeboard being the element to cause the boat to slide and break seas... The caviat being certain types of sharp breaking seas.

After that, there was the techniques of heaving to, with or without a jib, again, some of that dependent on that amount of actual wind and situation... using either a trysail or third reefed mainsail tight to the stern, and either a staysail or storm jib backed... the energy of the wind first sails the boat forward until the sail lufts, then the force of the wind on the jib or hull will force the boat to fall off... there is a sliding sideways breaking the waves and the boat path is to lee with a zig zag... there were always caviats related to this technique for use with confused or steep sea states that would allow the boat to come be abeam of the swells or waves as their direction was not that of the wind direction... but overall, it was successful...

Then there was Scudding with the storm... as you mentioned Jeanne, including what they call fore-reaching, where with or without backing the jib, the boat is steered downwind... the use of a steering mechanism considered a weak link in the technique...Motissier always steered and sailed the storm ...though he had to have an alternative measure to sleep that it does not mention. Robin Knox Johnson used fore-reaching successfully, with his 34' sv_Suhali, a double ender, the same design type as my boat, by backing the jib and found that the boat steered itself without any difficulty but he also used warps to slow the boat and break the seas... plus it does allow some slow progress, while preventing surfing and excess speeds ( the technique I have been found to work for me)...

So those are the only three techniques mentioned using the sails or tiller... The book also goes through use of all the emergency equipment.. sea anchors, drogues, warps of all kinds...so now that I have had my inventory on the deck I have lots of options...

After today's forecast... all I could say to Bob McD was that we will see what happens...I will manage the first gale with the techniques I have... probably still beginning with fore-reaching, as the seas are to be a bit confused and breaking though westerly 4.2 m, and a 2.5m SW swell, not too big yet...so fore-reaching should work well with the warp... WNW winds 35 gusting to 50kts. The front goes through to SW winds... I will have the storm jib flying...but seeing as I will not be using the pole...I will put the innerforestay in place and have the staysail ready and it will be a good opportunity to try it as the conditions escalate...the beauty again, is that with the furling jib...it is easy to add or subtract from the sail plan. After the gale, the winds only diminish to 25 gusting 35kts...with a couple of lulls...

So... I am hoping that all goes well and I am blissfully decreasing in anxiety, as Ron suggested a good 'heaving to' would accomplish and I will be ready to forge ahead...The next gale is not a frontal boundary, instead an actual circular low of mostly steady W winds to SW winds... all 30-35kts gusting up to 50kts... so... and this should give way to a couple more days of sailing in brisk winds...25kts again...or so... and then the gale on the 21-22... so... At this point...I am stil in the 80s*W... so there is still a week of sailing ...maybe 5 days to the Horn... It is mind blowing to consider that there may be yet another gale...but I will be holding at 50*S ish for the gale on the 21-22...by that time of course the rest of the plan will unfold.

And all of this may too change...as forecasts do... I am just trusting that I will master the right techniques to calm Inspired Sanity and keep her and I safe and sound.... At this point, I am careful to not create unnecessary issues for the rest of the way home...

The wind generator is complaining in new ways today, a squeeling bearing??? maybe, and creating more anxiety with the horrendous noise...but I have no choice but to run it...it is the only way to make power in the cloudy conditions here. There is no way to consider swapping generators at this point...

So tomorrow, when the winds clock to the west, and we are more downwind...I will get the boom off and onto the deck, take the genoa down and set the storm jib...and the inner-forestay...and we should be good to go...I can use the mainsail, rigged with the mainsheet blocks to create a trysail sized and shaped sail to heave to or use either the staysail or furled jib to fore-reach and I have the storm jib or staysail to actually sail the conditions... trying to make headway in the stronger winds when possible.

In a way... once the sail plan gets this simple...the sailing does lose much of its anxiety...and certainly the challenges of setting sail plans. For the most part, I am listening for changes that might suggest any breakage and hanging on below as Inspired Sanity does her thing...and Anam Cara...the steering vane does hers... She is responding much better with the last adjustment I made to the blocks... I am very happy with that.

When i considered the solo sailors in Richard Henderson's book, what so impressed me was that all these adventurers seem so intent on the adventure and accomplishing the monumental tasks involved... it was all about a personal physical challenge, and they were totally alone... i guess I was so intuned to the incredible way in which I have so embraced my love for my children and grands... and famiy...friends. I truly can't imagine that I will stop celebrating for days upon my return...we have all been here on this journey together... being able to interact has become as much a part of the journeying as the solace.

So... blah blah blah blah... The same old same old...we will be all glad when forecasts won't be about surviving such intensity...

And...as I mentioned yesterday...there is definitely a circling of the 'chuckwagons' in focused prayer and energizing midst all of us ...as if the energy of the sea herself is heightening all of our vibrations for a blessing... a challenge, maybe even harder for you watching me ... As I will have the necessary Grace to empower me in the midst of the challenges coupled with a good dose of adrenalin and corticosteroid production from within... but it is the focusing of energy that I am so so very excited about.

During my last trip... the function of the Satellite phone across the vast earth atmosphere so intrigued me... I have done some reading and try to understand the physics involved but it is still such a mystery... yet, I know that the key element in the operation of the satllite phone is 'energy' in the forms it takes to transmit information around the world.... And it was then that I became enthralled with the idea of the untapped capacity of our own human energy: mental, psychological, potential energy... our very spirit... God Consciousness...the Life energy I have been going on and on about.

And in that, prayer and meditation seem to be the coloquial terms we use for the methods by which we focus energy, coming into presence and communing in that fulcrum place of flowing energy... whether it is through shakras or however we term the actual pathway the flow takes... It is a flowing river...it is the currents of the sea... it is all powerful and ... it is conscious... this fascination is a key aspect to this journey... a deeper connectedness to this flow and to learn to focus my energy...to use my mental capacity...to embrace the universe in purpose and life purpose...

So...today, I was up so so early again...tis why I go to bed as soon as I can in the evenings... The needs of the vessel were calling, and it was raining just as he dawn was breaking... I was hours aloft, and cold... the temps in the mornings are always cooler, but that added bite to the cold has returned... I came down immediately lit the stove and ate my delicious oats with fruits...I even had a second helping. I was just hungry.

As I sat down with my second cup of tea... I began to reflect on the amazing emails from Jeanne all along as she and Jeff have mentored me in 'The Clearing Path'...and now the emails from Light...we have been so connected for so long... Joany, a best friend for over 25 years, sends on incredible emails from the mountains expressing the same faith and unbelievable truths regarding our oneness with God...living in faith and divine energy discovering life, a living spontaneous expression of love... harmony, symbiotic life, so vital and life giving...

Out of the blue... Dottie comes to my heart... Oh I need to share these ladies with each other... Dottie has become such a catalyst to an unemcumbered faith... trusting in what I know inwardly to be true...and somehow, despite the uniqueness of the path to sail the world...the absolute knowing of the incredible importance of this journey for me to free myself from the conformity to the egoic life system of the world...#1... I know that that egoic life was sucking the true life and my identity from me...

So as I boot up my computer to write to Dottie, I do a download...and there is an email from my friend and all fantastic truth came overflowing from her words of encouragement to me ... I am a unique specimen of human but I am not strange or in anyway unusual in my uniqueness...we are all so unique... and she went on to share these beautiful thoughts...

"You are a seeker and adventurer at the core of your being, always thirsting for divine wisdom and understanding, constantly pushing yourself and your limits, daring yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally to go where few people go. You feel the energy of the Universe as few people do, wanting so desperately to be in flow with it at all times. All of this is inspiring and makes you the amazing being you are. I don�'t know anyone like you and this is why I find myself in constant awe of you. All I ask, my dear friend, is for you to try to be more gentle and patient with yourself. Each moment and its experience is an important part of your journey, a journey that has no end. In other words, when you return to land after so many months of being alone with the sea, you will still be searching because this process is infinite. "

Oh, what a sigh this brings... As if finally, I see there is no destination... only the journeying... with the beauty and unique experience each day brings...and truly..this has been my life's path. I will write my story not because I have done anything great..but because I show the potential of the love, and beauty that a life of faith can bring. Though my journey has always had the driving force of an inward unrest and lack of understanding seeking to be understood and experienced...it has not been without the amazing life energy that comes when one truly desires to know... and is willing to find out.

Whether it is to know what it is really like to live in Haiti and experience the challenges they face, while lending a hand; or a trip to Equador as a nurse to feel the anguish of living without modern medical helps but also to experiece the vitality of their lives lived off the land in incredible mountain communities and vast shanties in the flats along the coastlines; to experience the power of Irish music at the hand of 1000s of youth in competitions or local sessions, right alongside the elder famous Irish artisans; to session with the Argentinians in Ushuaia; To see... the world as it is in its beauty and in its magical local lifestyles and aritsanship, musicians, and to see the needs.

Midst the storm clouds, the sun keeps peaking out to try to warm things and it is amazing how it lifts the intensity of the moments...the wind generator is really struggling... but moreso..it seems that every thing in the cockpit or that can rattle has found a harmonizing frequency with the generators vibrations... it is like being in a hen house with cackling hens and the constant arising of the roosters crowing... while a jet engine is escalating in the background... lets add a few squeeling pigs to the henhouse...

I have turned downwind regardless of the windshift...I will be fine doing a bit of ENE tonight...the wind generator is now more tame...the seas off my beam and I am counting on a restful night... I have been a bit anxious now that there is no real 'break' in the train of storms even on the horizon... somehow, I must round the Cape safely...not in a gale. I may need to go farther south to get into deeper water if there are going to be 30' seas to contend with on the shelf, much like I did rounding NZ...

The days are full... Keepin On Sailin On Caring... Oh Peace Still the Raging Storm...Peace Still the Storms... It is all by faith... it will be manageable and all is well with my soul... One storm at a time...

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.healingdolphins.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