Bermuda

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 24 Nov 2008 19:40
November 24, 2008
Position: 32 22.76 N 064 40.4 W
At anchor St George Harbour, Bemuda
Wind: North, fresh breeze
Weather: sunny, warm
Day's Run: 105 miles

More headwinds overnight, with the wind gusting in the passing rain squalls
causing old Sylph to heel heavily, pick up speed and crash through the
waves. I know the wind is going to abate but how long will it be I wonder
as each gust hits us. Sometimes I put in an additional reef, invariably
when I do moments later the wind dies and then I am left wondering whether I

should take the reef out or not. Sometimes I let Sylph ride through it, we
are over at an angle of 45 degrees, I am lying more on the lee cloth than in

the bunk, Bob Cat often curled up somewhere next to me, Sylph powers
forward, surging up and over the waves, generally she rides well, coming
down gently on the other side then surges forward again to meet the next
wave. But occasionally the waves are hollow and as she leaps over them she
is met with nothing but air on the far side and comes crashing back into the

trough, the whole boat shudders, but Sylph seems to laugh, shakes it off and

ploughs forward to meet the next one. BC and I invariably are not laughing
with her.

After a rain squall has passed there is always an area of calm behind them,
and we are left wallowing in the confused seas in their wake, especially if
I have put that second reef in. Sometimes I drag myself back on deck to
shake the reef out, sometimes I don't, I just let her wallow for a while.
If I do, the bow falls off badly and we lose a lot of ground to windward. I

am no racer.

Despite my non-competitive nature we have made it, we are in Bermuda! We
have cleared customs, BC is legal and the authorities here have said he is
allowed to step ashore, but the skipper is a bastard and isn't allowing the
crew any shore leave. We don't want to pick up and Bermudan parasites while

we are here, or maybe have the crew jump ship.

The plan is to stay here for about three days, for a bit of RnR, also to
effect a few repairs. All of the spray cloths are damaged and one of them is

totally shot, I have tied the remnants of it up to the cockpit rail, as a
sort of badge of honour in recognition of tempests endured, until I make a
new one. So one of my jobs later today or early tomorrow is to find some
suitable canvas.

I will probably have a beer and burger tonight and then crash on board for a

good night's sleep, I wonder whether I will sleep without the boat gyrating
in three different directions at once.

Bob Cat:

We've stopped moving. It doesn't look like Annapolis outside. It has been
a very confusing year - ice in the summer, now warm in the winter. Some one

with a funny accent poked and prodded me this morning. I've had a bit of
that lately. What a world. Well we won't worry about it, worrying gets one

no-where, simply interrupts the essentials of life. Now here is a man who
has life worked out:

"I divide my time as follows: half the time I sleep, the other half I
dream. I never dream when I sleep, for that would be a pity, for sleeping
is the highest accomplishment of genius." Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or.

Someone who recognizes my genius. Speaking of which, am I wasting precious
time dreaming? Enough.

Zzzzzzz.