Day 16

leeonsea
Lee Price
Tue 27 May 2008 19:29
N37.04.23 W051.00.91
 
Must be a supreamly soul destroying job being a North Atlantic weather forecaster. Knowing that each morning as you arrive for work, that the days labours will be entirly fruitless, neither good to man nor beast, because everyting you produce that day will be wrong. On the odd occasion when you get a hit, celebration will be muted in the knowledge that it was a complete fluke, that that days chaos of multilayered weather patterns conspired to chance upon the same conclusion you did. How could you, a mere human being, despite the multi million dollar computer system at your disposal, ever hope to compete with the intracasies of the natural world.
 
I've taken to looking at the weather forecasts as at best, a bit of something to do, at worst, an accurate prediction of where the wind - isnt - going to be, it pretty good at that.
 
It started to rain again yesturday evening, which was nice. The wind remained a rather progressive F5-6 and stubornly in the NE. We lost some northing but made better easting than we lost so I'm loath to complain after the last few days, progress of a sort has been made.
 
Mood on board has improved as a result, I'm not overjoyed, not even thrilled and I wouldn't contemplate in any way the chance that I might be tickled, the situation being somewhere south of ideal, but I would give countanence I suppose, to the posibility at least, that I was?................teppid.
 
Visited by Dolphins at dusk, transpires they like dance music. The first pod I came accross had something funky on the hifi and last night a compilation of my own making, of what I like to think of as 'floor-fillers', was clearly sending a sonic invitation to any like minded creature of the deep that it was time for a boogie!  The Doliphins were there, having it large in the bow wave, getting a groove on ;o)
 
It continued to rain into the night, big sorrowful buckets of rain. I don't know why but I'd not considered rain to be such a major factor in the journey, I knew it would rain, but not for days. At 0430, becalmed.............again! can you believe the luck?
 
I motored at dawn unable to consider another day just bobbing about and noticed that a grub screw that holds the drive pin in the Hydrovane had worked loose and the pin dangled dangerously at the edge, just looking to plop overboard. That was VERY lucky to have noticed, life could have become that much more difficult without it.
 
Where the hell is my wind! I made a full 45nm toward Horta in the last 24hrs.
 
There was a bit of sun today, I was able to sit in shorts and T-shirt for a time but it continues to be overcast in the main, drizzley and what little wind there is is not quite enough to push a 10Ton boat along at any sort of speed.
 
Tomorrow.....always tomorrow.