Rolling pleasantly

Luna Quest
W. Eric Faber
Fri 31 Jan 2014 14:04
Noon Position: 17.13N 52.53W

Daily Run: 91 miles

New Time Zone: Z3

The wind was losing its strength yesterday afternoon, which increased the rolling, but nothing so bad as in the night when the wind dropped to around 10knots and the ship was thrown about like a cork on a mindless and demented sea, its master having forsaken his command. There was no point in setting more sail, we would not make much more progress and the risk of sustaining injury would have multiplied in the dark. I would re-assess in the morning, I decided. The wild and uncontrollable motion of the boat made even finding a comfortable position in my bunk an almost impossible task, but there was no point getting up, we would have to wait for the sea to calm herself or for her master to return.

In the morning I found the sea was calming down and that the wind had picked up to 15 knots. The ship was rolling less. A shallow squall soon passed, allowing me to hoist the foresail on the inner stay. My repaired boom was soon deployed and with the sun gaining in strength, I was reminded that sailing can be a pleasant experience. Today is the first day in the voyage that the rolling has reduced to a minimum, the wind is kind, the sea is moderate, the sun is out, the temperature 29C and I have not a scrap of clothing on.

I use the expression noon for my noon position for the benefit of the reader as my local noon is now three hours later in Z3, but it makes consistent reading including the daily run.