Thursday, March 27, 2008

Blowing and drifting

Wed 3.26 0000 hrs (midnight)
Position 13 39.92N - 90 02.40W
Cse 118 - Spd 4 to 6 - Wnd 5 to 15 - 1 reef in main+fore staysail-

Another busy night. Not much time to write.

I took watch this evening with the instructions of a quiet night and no need to rush. The wind was fluky. It would blow 12 for like 30 mins then shut down. I'd nurse it for 15 mins or so before I'd pull everything in tight(the sails) and fire up the motor. 10 mins later I would hit another pocket and take off. Out go the sails, and shut off the motor. Whee!

This looped several times and kept me busy. A few times when we were ghosting along at around 2kts, everything was real quiet and we could hear dolphin surfacing around us. I guess they were coming over to check us out.

To make the evening a bit more complicated, I had to deal with of an inbound tanker. I first saw him 6 miles out, and checked the charts where he might be going. I was clearly in his path. Minor course changes were not enough and I had to dive out of the way(90 degree course change towards the beach) near the end. We passed within 1/2 mile. It's good to pay attention.

When I handed off to Lani at 2am we were just rounding Pnta. Remidias and the winds picked back up around 18kts. This is why we left the sails short tonight.

No comments: