Maybe this is why they call it “The Pond”?
Don’t think for one second I am cursing the wind. I am not. I firmly believe there are only two kinds of wind; too little and too much. We’ve been battling a little too much of the little too little for a few days now. Frankly, we’ve done a pretty good job of battling through it all, but speed over ground numbers that are in the 3 knot range, and a sea state that is closer to 12 knot winds makes for some sloppy and rolly sailing that can drive you a bit mad.
Right now, I would probably give my little toe for a Code Zero or “tweener” style sail to power up our sail plan. Once we hit 13 kts of true wind speed, the boat is very happy across the range, but sub 13… things get tough. Forecast for the next 48 hours is sub 13. We have fuel, but I am so stingy I am reluctant to use too much. Of course, I wouldn’t mind ghosting in on fumes, but still not sure when to tick it over. Not yet… but soon.
One of the interesting things we’ve experienced is lots of squalls that both suck up the energy (reduce the wind speed) AND give us pretty big shifts. Things can be going great and then some big cell 12 miles away can mess it all up. Last night in 30 minutes I saw stars and the moon, rain and clouds, 5kts and 25 kts of wind. It also shifted through 70 degrees - the wrong way (is there is a right way 70 degree shift?). It keeps you on your toes (the ones I would would trade for BIG code zero right now) but it also makes you sure you’ll never get there. But we will.
Those squalls do produce one really cool thing… rainbows! We saw bunches of them yesterday including a couple of doubles. Fun fact about double rainbows… the colors are always inverted in the second one. (Hi Courtney & Carson :)
We may lean on the “iron genoa” for a few hours to try and connect to the next band of pressure, which our weather files suggest is west of us. With the engine running we can top up the water tanks, tank hot showers, make more chocolate bread pudding, and maybe even sneak a load of laundry or two.
We are continuing to learn as we go along too. Those lessons you never seem to fully get; you know, like where best to put the olive oil so it doesn’t spill, or how to tie a bowline 10 different ways. But we’ve learned a few other things too.
Last night I flipped on the headlamp while on watch and made a hand drawn sail selection chart to help the team have a unified baseline to make sail combination choices with. Tonight, I’ll add notes about sheeting positions (when to cheat to the outboard lead, when to plug in the preventer, etc.) and I am sure over the next two weeks we’ll slide the selection chart around a bit, but it’s a good start. I am also creating a fun facts game about the boat using the multitude of manuals and things we do regularly. Think Jeopardy meets Trivial Pursuit, meets US Sailing Basic Keelboat study guide.
Finally, we’ve made a ritual of a noon time Euchre game. It has created some divisions in the crew, but the competition is good for the soul.
Here’s to bowers and building breeze.
Safe watch. kb OUT.