Southing
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Thu 19 May 2016 02:32
Course: South Sou’ West Speed: 3.5 knots
Wind: South East F2-3: light to gentle breeze
Sea: slight Swell: South East 1 meters
Weather: cloudy with sunny patches, mild
Day’s run: 135 nm
Over the last 24 hours I have been working our way south of the rhumb line course to Sydney. Winds are forecast to veer into the sou’ sou’ west tomorrow afternoon and freshen to about 20 knots, so I want to make ground to the south so as to be able give it up again if needs be, losing as little southing as possible when the fresh breeze arrives.
We had some company last night in the way of a gannet. I found her resting on the pulpit last night when I went up forward to check on the genoa. Later in the night she moved back to the solar panels. Like all birds she made a bit of a mess, but nothing a bucket of seawater wasn’t able to take care of, and I could hardly begrudge a fellow traveller a bit of a rest.
This morning we passed through a belt of menacing looking dark cumulonimbus clouds. At the time we were running wing on wing with the genoa poled out to port. I did not like the look of the clouds and the dark disturbed looking sea beneath them, so, as a precaution, I dropped the pole, furled the jib, and put a reef in the mainsail. My precautions proved unnecessary as we actually slipped harmlessly between them and now are back out in the sunshine and blue skies with rows of fair weather cumulus marching into the distance.
We continue to make ground to the south while we can.
All is well.