Wind, and how!
30 June 2009 | Mid-Atlantic
Morrey Atkinson
Well, did anyone really think that would last? After the long day motoring, the wind gradually built speed, until we were moving along at a nice clip. We had a really fast, easy sail for about twenty-four hours. The VJ responds best to 12-15 kts of winds, at least on this tack. Last night around dinnertime, I decided to come down and download some 'GRIB' files; we almost forgot to do so, as we were kind of comfortable and lethargic. We get one set of GRIBs a day, which basically give our projected weather for a selected area of the ocean, i.e. our position. Although we had a lovely 11-12kt at 1800, the projections were for 20kt+ by 0600 today. On my 0000-0300 watch, we were carefully reefed down, mostly, with 2 reefs in the mizzen and main and a partially furled Genoa. Ted and I both had winds in the 20- 23kt range during our watches, which were fine. However, I woke at 0700 to see the indicator at 33 knots, and Ted and Dave were dropping the mainsail. Pitching and rolling, it was quite an alarm clock. Once we had the main down, all calmed down nicely, and I'm having some oatmeal (porridge) and a cup of hot chocolate. The GRIBs show lighter winds this afternoon, shifting to the west, as we've had mostly south winds for a long time now. We estimate ourselves about 850 miles from Horta.
Our provisions are fine, but we are getting a bit low on fresh fruits and veggies. Meals still make us very happy, and we've been rather creative. I still have a few ideas up my sleeve, including Yats-style succotash with some sweet potatoes thrown in, as well as carbonara and chicken parmesan.
Fair winds!