Unfortunately, The Blob wasn’t done with us.  

When I came on watch at 2am this morning (Thursday), we had light wind boxing the compass and short, steep chop hitting us from every direction.  At one point, our GPS showed our course over the ground to be directly opposite our heading — i.e. we were going backwards.  At another, we turned 360° over the span of five minutes without changing tack.

Sailing in those conditions is challenging; it’s even worse in the dark, when you can’t see many of the indicators that might help you trim and adjust. The apparent wind created by the rocking overwhelms the real breeze, so you can’t trust your wind instruments. I was starting to feel like a lab rat in a maze with nothing but dead ends. :-(

Finally after about 2.5 hours, I figured out a sail trim that allowed a little bit of momentum on a heading that at least wasn’t adding to our distance from St. Lucia.  I handed over to Damian, who cajoled that bleak accomplishment into real progress over the course of his watch.  The sea state is still a mess, but it’s nearly sunset on Thursday now and we’ve been at 4-6 knots on a westerly heading since 8am.

 

If conditions right now weren't so similar to last night, I’d be pretty confident we’ve finally escaped The Blob.  But given last night’s experience, I’m withholding  any declaration for at least a day!