The last 24 hours have been a rerun of yesterday. We sailed well into the night and by the time of my midnight watch the wind had picked up and the boat was over canvassed. We shortened sail but by 1 AM the wind had backed enough to put us near the southern end of Clemente island before dawn so we decided to heave to while we had adequate sea room. It is just as well that we did because soon the wind died down and started to rain. An hour after that the wind started to pipe up again and we spent the rest of the night trying to hold our position against 25-kt southerlies (gusting to 30 kt). (We drifted 8 miles to the north in 9 hours.
Arnold was up before me and reported at 9 AM that we seemed to have a fair though strong wind. After cups of coffee I went on deck and got the boat sailing by untying the boom restraint, freeing the wheel, rolling out a small amount of jib, putting the boat just off the wind on the same starboard tack, locking in the course with the autopilot, setting up Jeff by mounting his airvane and locking his water paddle in the water with the boat hook, aligning the airvane with the relative wind direction, then locking the wheel to Jeff and putting the autopilot on Standby. After rolling the jib to a tiny area we found ourselves heading SE at about 4 kt.
Soon after we found ourselves racing south in a strengthening wind. Arnold and I suited up with the intention of falling off the wind to a starboard reach and pumping out the bilge. Once we were the beam reach we realized that we were carrying too much sail. The wind was at about 33 kt. Arnold helmed the boat as far into the wind as possible which was enough to make the boomed out mainsail flutter. Then I had to go to the mast and pull the sail down inch by inch (Oh my aching hands!) We then fell away on a broad reach and the boat sailed more comfortably at speeds of up to 6 kt in an apparent wind that Arnold saw hit 36 kt. I went on the leeward rail to tuck one of the mainsail battens into the lazy jack and a big wave hit and I found myself in ankle deep water trying to keep my boots on the toe rail of the heavily leaning deck and clinging on to the fence rope. After that was over I yelled out to the weather "I KNEW THAT YOU HAD MORE!) Back in the cockpit I commented to Arnold "Welcome back to heavy weather sailing." and he replied that he was glad that we were sailing through this weather for a change instead of whimping out hove to. He said that he was actually enjoying it.
The prospects for the next few days are for favorable though at times strong winds. We expect the wind to veer to the West and remain strong at 25-30 kt. We'll be able to sail downwind with this using just a small amount of jib. Thereafter the wind is expected to come from the NW tomorrow (Friday) and remain NW but moderating on Saturday. We'll see.
After a good night's sleep and a relatively dry bilge (because we kept on top of it) morale is pretty good. Being able to get a PBS radio station for the first time in over a week has been a big plus. Sausage and eggs for lunch will boost us even more.
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1 comment:
Remember King Neptune and your crew. Hang on tight!
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