Wind At Last

At sunset we dropped all sails and lay ahull because the wind had totally died out. After dinner we turned in hoping that the latest grib file had been accurate and we could get wind that night.

Just before midnight I woke up to the low hum of the Rutland wind charger. The wind was from the SW at about 10 knots. Soon I had the boat on a starboard tack with the jib completely rolled out, aware that a soon ship would pass me only a mile or two off my starboard. Even though we were moving at over 5 kt I thought it worthwhile to raise the mainsail to better balance the boat and point more into the wind.

Raising the mainsil proved easier than I had hoped. The key was to patiently drop the lazy jacks and get them out of the way. After that it was a matter of letting out the boom and turning the winch to raise the sail at my leisure. I stopped at the first reefing point and after tidying things up we were on the move with Jeff once again doing the steering. By then Arnold was up and had a look at the situation. A cargo ship passed 3 miles to starboard bound for California.

Soon after Arnold went back to bed I noted that the apparent wind was creeping up to 18 and 19 knots and the boat was starting to pound into the rising sea. I have learned not to drive the boat on her ear for various reasons, so I rolled in the jib to a no. 2 to match the single reef and soon the boat was doing over 6 knots into a 22 knot apparent wind with relative comfort. The day's grib file had been correct with its prediction: 19 kt SW wind at about this time. The prospect was for the wind to steadily veer to the west the northwest and moderate to 10-15 kt during the next 24 hours.

I woke up just before the hourly alarm at 4 AM and soon decided to roll in some more headsail because it was luffing too much for my liking. There would be some spray flying around so I decided to play it safe and don my wet weather gear, boots and all. Within seconds of reducing the headsail from a no. 2 to about a no. 4 we got hit big time by a squall. It was a storm s scenario now, complete with 30 knot wind, seas that seemed to build up instantly, and torrential rain. I eased the mainsail regretting that I had not raised it double reefed instead of single reefed. All I could do then was to cower behind the spray dodger hoping that it would pass quickly. I was on the point of going on deck and putting in the second reef when I started to sense that the worst was over. Over a period of 20 minutes the rain eased then stopped and the wind settled down to 15-20 knots. A look at the chart plotter told me that the wind had veered 60 degrees because we were now headed SW instead of SSE. I had been too busy with the plumbing problem to get that weather fax as I had intended. That would have warned us of what to expect. Nevertheless I thank my lucky stars that I dressed properly and reduced that headsail just in time.

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