Wednesday, 10th June, 2015
Luna Quest
W. Eric Faber
Tue 9 Jun 2015 23:11
Daily run: 63 miles
A strong breeze is sending big blue rollers onto the port quarter of Luna Quest. It is difficult to keep her speed down to under 5 knots. She only carries a scrap of genoa. A near gale is forecast soon and our passage through the pass is due tomorrow morning. All night we have been hove-to to allow us to time our passage. This morning at 07.30am we only had a 130 miles to go to the pass from our hove-to position, a distance Luna Quest would cover in about 16 hours in this wind, but we have been told not to enter the pass at any time other than in the morning hours from 9am, when the sun is behind us and obstacles (bommies and rocks) can be spotted by the naked eye or with the help of polloroid sunglasses.
The rollers are magnificent with their translucent light blue tops just before white foam in its curly descent obliterates the translucency. The troughs are steep and every wave looks as though it might succeed in invading the cockpit, but Luna Quest lifts her bottom and the wave passes protestingly underneath, but harmless to ship and crew. The decks are dry.
Eric