Tuesday, November 12
It’s hot! If we didn’t have a good breeze, it would be painful. Instead we’re still sailing with the double reefed main and both headsails. We’re doing 6-7 knots which means keeping a close eye on things. Don’t want anything going wrong at this speed.
Ordinarily, we’d have rolled in the staysail by now but the wind isn’t actually as strong as all that. We’re not heeling too badly and beam-on big waves toss us, but not far enough over that we’ve had to close the portholes against water splashing in when the rail goes under. The tiller is nearly centered and LoveBot isn’t struggling.
I suspect a helpful current but maybe it’s the scraping we gave the hull plus just the exact right amount of wind at the most favorable angle.
Knowing that the wind will be farther abaft later, I’ll enjoy this while it lasts.
At 1400, the average speed was 6 knots. At 1500, 5.9. Already at 1538, it’s 5.8 so it’s true that we’ve slowed down a little. It does feel easier and the lesser amount of wind is welcome on my face.
I’m still too weak to refrain from doing the math. It would be 15 days averaging 6 knots but the ship already sailed on that possibility (har har). At a 5 knot average, it would be 18 days. Wouldn’t hurt my feelings. On the other hand, it’s not in my hands.
The sun lights up the sail’s stitching holes. Then I saw a pinhole where there’s no stitching. Sigh. Gotta keep an eye on that. It’s above the second reef.
Boy howdy, it’s 1753 and have we ever slowed down. High 4s, but it’s sapping our average speed by the minute. Plus, with the wind this light, the headsails don’t stay full when the big waves tip us back and forth. Bad for the rig, bad for the fabric. We would be able to point more upwind, but looks like a current is dragging us just a little extra north.
Wednesday, November 13
After a whole 2100-2400 watch where the yankee did some drastic popping, I brought up another option when James woke up for the midnight watch change. We shook a reef and rolled in the yankee.
That saved my nerves from the violence of the headsail emptying so thoroughly that it wraps the stay and then filling hard and shaking the rig.
I went to bed (and even slept some) and came back to discover that the decision hadn’t really hurt our speed, and we were more on track. Win win win.
I’m almost done with one of those night watches where I am more sleepy than rapt. I dozed off, but I wasn’t comfortable enough for it to turn into a long sleep.
My new crappy but fine headphones died. Once they were charged, I went down for them and made some kind of noise that startled James and made him think I’d gone overboard. I went to kiss him and assure him I was fine, and Beluga Greyfinger reared up as though for nuzzles. Instead, he climbed right onto my shoulders and settled in.
I spent a happy half hour on the settee with him. Once he moved to my lap, it was really hard not to fall asleep. He’s a comfortingly warm little bundle and calming him reverberated to benefit me as well.
Now it’s 0535 and I’ll be waking James in 10 minutes. Here’s hoping I’m as sleepy lying in bed as I am sitting up in the cockpit.
Noon position: N 15° 03.001’ W 028° 25.545’
Distance noon to noon: 104.8 NM
Average speed: 4.38 kn
Trip distance covered: 219.8 NM
Distance to destination: 1889 NM
