Wind At Last

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sun 3 Aug 2008 21:43
Noon Position: 69 03.0 N 052 21.6 W
Course: Southwest?
Wind: Calm
Weather: Overcast with occasional drizzle
Daily run: argh!

The last 24 hours have been mostly calm which was I didn't mind overnight, I
let the boat drift and rested, checking our position and having good scan
around for icebergs once an hour. The wind teased me a little here and
there, to the point that last night I actually changed headsails for the
light weight genoa, hoping we could make some miles with its assistance in
the light airs but shortly after lunch today I admitted defeat, I reckon we
were being overtaken by icebergs as they drifted out to sea. I cringed but
I forced myself to engage the engine for a couple of hours to see if we
could find some wind closer to the entrance to the Bay. Sure enough a
couple of hours later the wind piped up and we were sailing. This afternoon
a small open fishing boat came to say hello, I waved and shouted out to the
fisherman, asking whether he spoke English, he shook his head. Here was a
perfect photo opportunity. It is so hard to get a decent photo of one's own
boat sailing, especially when you are single handing. I showed the
fisherman my camera, he seemed to understand and came alongside to collect
it. I of course had a moments doubt whether he might have then taken off
with it, but no he took a couple of quite nice photos, one even has an
iceberg in the background, not particularly awesome looking but better than
nothing.
Late this afternoon the wind picked up to the point where I thought it best
to change back to the working jib. The pessimist in me reckoned that if I
didn't change the sails then the wind would pick up and do some damage, and
if I did change the sails then the wind would drop off and I would be
wishing I had kept the light weight genoa up. Well I changed them over to
be safe and of course now the wind is dying off.
We had some rain this afternoon, I can't remember seeing any of this heavy
wet stuff for quite a while. And this led me to think when was the last
time I saw the night sky with stars in it. I shall be very thrilled to see
the night sky again, particularly when we are clear of iceberg territory.
We are only just clearing Disko Bay now. Looking at the weather forecast my
plan is to try to head offshore a bit towards the middle of Davis Strait,
pick up the northerly breeze that is supposed to be out there, then see
where this leads us over the next couple of days. This way I can hedge my
bets, see how many icebergs and how much fog we encounter, and if it all
looks good from there follow the wind pattern that I think will get us south
in the best time. No doubt it will all have changed by this time tomorrow.
It sure is nice to have a little wind in the sails.

Bob Cat:

Just another day shoulder contentedly to the grindstone.

All is well.