Beautiful Morning
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Wed 3 Jun 2009 19:07
Course: East Nor'east Speed 3.5 knots
Wind: Southwest, light
Weather: Overcast, mild. Sea: slight, long moderate swell
Day's Run: 111 miles
A canopy of stars last night, the first for what seems weeks. Oh joy, oh
joy, no fog! Though the wind is just a tad lighter then I would like,
another 5 knots please, that will be plenty, no more, no less. We pretty
much drifted overnight, ended up with just a bit of jib up to keep us
heading in the right direction and to dampen the roll, nonetheless still
made a respectable 110 miles over the last 24 hours.
This morning dawned, yes with Homeric rose-red fingers, the wind picked up a
little and we have been running square all day, wing on wing, mainsail out
one side and jib poled out the other. This morning was glorious, clear
skies, sun shining, light wind, took the opportunity to drag clothes and
towels out into the cockpit, and gave everything a good airing,. I reduced
down to a pair of shorts and enjoyed a cockpit shower, very refreshing.
Inspected the drifter, all good, dried and bagged, now I just need to
re-reeve the halyard to the masthead and it will be ready to go again. Not
real keen to climb the mast just yet, have to psyche myself up a bit and
preferable wait for when the sea is really flat, it isn't as if it is a
really essential sail after all.
This afternoon it has come over all grey with a uniform cover of low
stratus, but no fog. So we have rugged back up, but only one layer of
clothing.
Looking at the weather faxes it seems we need to stay south of the direct
route for Ireland, otherwise we're probably going to end up with strong
headwinds, so steering more to the east, hoping these low pressure systems
will stay to the north of us.
Have I mentioned how glad I am to be out of the fog!
All is well.
Bob Cat:
Strolled the poop deck this morning for a bit of sunshine and fresh air but
skipper Bob was splashing water all over the place, he is always doing
something to mess my day up. You know his job is very simple, I think we may
need to review ship's articles together and get him straightened out. How
best to deal with the skipper, will anything work? I'll sleep on it.
Zzzzzzz.