Rough Weather

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Wed 26 Aug 2009 12:44
Noon Position: 44 55.7 N 007 50.9 W
Course: West Speed: 3 knots
Wind: South sou' west, strong Sea rough
Weather: Overcast, drizzle, mild
Day's run: 96 nm

.The front arrived about midnight, we went from full sail to double reefed mainsail and 30% jib over the next three hours as the wind increased to force five to six, of course a headwind. Yesterday we had gradually been set to the east of the desired track, by the time the front came through we had tacked a few hours earlier, since then we have remained on the port tack heading west, out to sea. Consequently we haven't made much ground towards our goal, but rather have only been very slowly closing and still have about 100 miles to go. My weather charts are showing this frontal system as being very slow moving so we may have to put up with these strong winds for another 24 hours or so, but with luck maybe the front will move on a bit quicker than shown, if the wind eases I can set a bit more sail, tack and start making ground once more towards Spain. Yesterday I was hoping to be there tonight but now late tomorrow would be our best prospects.

This morning I was getting myself a bowl of cereal, looking at the cat's food bowl, thinking things aren't too bad, the cat's bowl hasn't gone flying yet, not a minute later a nice big wave picked us up, slammed us over to starboard, I fell over and spilt my cereal everywhere, fortunately I hadn't put any milk in yet and of course the cat's bowl got thrown across the galley as well - a nice little mess of cat food, water and cereal to clean up. Be careful what you think!

Bob Cat:

The settee remains the sleeping destination of choice today. I have had the occasional foray into the quarter berth but there is too much of skipper Bob's junk on it and his foul weather gear threaten to drip on me. And a new twist, I encountered Elbuort there this morning, snickering away. I enquired where has he been and why is he so happy? Elbuort, "Did you see the cereal and cat food, that was very goodly done!"
"Did you do that?"
"Of course," he replies, "I am a poltergeist."
"Looked like a normal accident due to the heave of the boat to me." I says.
"Maybe so, but the tyming was impeccable don't ye thinke? And all that clattering of pots and pans and bottles and thinges of like ilke, who do ye think is responsible for these"
"The ocean," says I.
"Ah, the challenges of a poltergeist on a boat," says he.
"Right," says I, "See you later, I've got some dreams to catch up on, better dreams then this one at least." With this I retired to the settee once again - oh and don't ask me about the funny spelling, it just seemed to come out that way. Anyway I have spent far too long writing as it is, back to the land of nod, the best place to be on a day like today, or any other day for that matter .. Zzzzzzzzz