Monday, March 24, 2008

Sun 3.23 1200 hours

We left off yesterday as winds slowly built enough to shut off the iron wind. It was great to be in the quiet zone again. Around sunset, and without warning we must have hit the trough of the Tehuantepec. We got the sails down and continued with the fwd staysail and 3rd reef in the main only and were still hitting 6-7kts in winds up around 35. That's what the foulies and lifelines were for. We were drenched from the firehose like spray of waves every 30 seconds. I noted that it was very warm. By my watch at midnight, we were through and the rest of the night was a coast along around 4-5 kts. We kept it underpowered all night in case the t-pecs came back up but they never did.

So THAT is why this area has it's reputation of being able to swamp a boat. We went through on a CALM night!!!

Today, seas are is still calm and wind is directly on the tail. This makes our apparent wind not enough to keep the sails from flogging around so we motor. We have been maintaining 5-7 miles off the coast which I cannot see. It might be flat land, or the haze, but the other freaky thing is that we are in only 120 ft of water.

Nothing on the hooks yet, but the wasabi is at the ready.

2 comments:

Tina said...

*whew!* Glad you made it through safely!

I dunno, doesn't sound like the sailor's life for me.

I'm glad you're enjoying it and I'm able to safely read about it here :) thanks!

Unknown said...

Right now, I don't think I'd be on any other boat.

Astor was almost made for this kind of stuff. She is built and handles it well.

But yes, one has to like the water. I log days like this so you don't get the idea this is just a snooze cruise.

Thanks for your concerns
XX

B