Light Winds, No Wind, Head Winds

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Tue 10 Jun 2008 17:07
Noon Position: 42 55.0 N 064 30.2 W
Course: North North East Speed: 4.8 knots
Wind: East, moderate breeze
Weather: Overcast, good visibility, cool
Day’s Run: 74 nm


Despite the light winds, yesterday was a great day’s sail, for much of the
day we had the drifter up and it pulled us along at a very pleasant three
and a bit knots. We were probably doing closer to 4½ - 5 through the water
but I reckon we had at least a knot of current against us. At 10.45 p.m.
the wind left us completely, in fact I have not seen such a smooth calm for
a long time, reminded me of the calms in the Arafura Sea, mirror smooth, not
so much as a ripple, and no swell either, the boat just sits serenely still.
While frustrating in terms of getting somewhere nonetheless it sure was
beautiful. I dropped sail and slept in the cockpit for a while but as it
got cold and damp there was not much else to do but to join Bob Cat down
below.
I popped my head up a couple of time during to check the wind, about 2 a.m.
there was a very light breeze but not sufficient to be worth the fuss of
setting sail, and it wasn’t until 4.45 that I turned Bob Cat out of the bunk
(he had decided to come and curl up on top of me sometime during the night),
and set sail once more.
The wind is now on the nose, i.e. coming from the direction in which we wish
to go, consequently we are close hauled on the starboard tack and punching
into a small head sea. One nice thing I have noticed about sailing in this
part of the world is that the seas follow the winds pretty closely, when the
wind dies the seas abate pretty quickly as well, and there are no big swells
to deal with. (Better utter a quick obeisance to Poseidon, Neptune, Proteus
etc., now the sea gods who are included in the etc. are probably really
annoyed – hard to keep a sailor’s superstitions at bay.)
All is well.


Bob Cat:

Great day, got lots of work done but, and this is no minor adjunct, the
alimentation leaves much room for improvement. I am afraid skipper Bob is
no bon vivant. One must make do and take solace in one’s philosophy I
suppose, as Lord Curzon observed, “It is inevitable, therefore it can be
approved.”