Saturday 30 August - Drifting

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Sun 31 Aug 2014 00:53
1800 Position:  57 48.9 N 152 13.2 W
Course: drifting Speed: 0 knots
Wind: calm
Sea: smooth Swell: north east, 0.5 meters
Weather: overcast, cool
Day's run: negligible
[It would seem that I am still experiencing some comms difficulties and have reason to believe yesterday’s blog did not get through, so here it is again.]

The official forecast that was being transmitted over the radio this morning, consistent with the forecast over the last several days, was for north westerly to westerly winds, fifteen to twenty knots, but the unofficial forecast from the grib files and from my personal forecaster based many miles away in the landlocked city of Calgary was for much lighter winds. Looking up at the hill over Kodiak the wind generators stood motionless, so I felt that there was little hurry to get under way. However, I did need to get moving. The long term lessee of the slip Sylph has been in over the last couple of weeks will be returning tonight and, in any event, we have stayed in Kodiak much longer than planned.

After a leisurely tidy up, including a cup of coffee at MacDonalds where there is a free internet connection but no gluten free food, we got going at a little after midday. We motored out through the narrow channel between Kodiak and Near Island, under the bridge that I had walked over yesterday to say farewell to the 'Nomzamos', and out into the southern end of Marmot Bay. Once clear of the channel I stopped the motor and began the day's drift. At half past two a light breeze sprang up from the north east, to which I set sail.  With some sail up I felt that our passage to Seward had begun but, an hour later, the light breeze deserted us, and now we continue to drift with just the mainsail set, awaiting whatever breeze might come our way.

The forecast burbling out of the VHF radio any time I choose to tune into the weather channels continues to predict winds from the westerly quadrant at fifteen to twenty knot, ideal for where we want to go, so I am working on the assumption that if I wait long enough the forecast will eventually come true.

All is well.