Light Head Winds and Flat Seas

Where Next?
Bob Williams
Mon 30 Sep 2019 03:34

Position: 19 55.9 S  148 40.7 E
Course: South-east  Speed: 4.5 knots
Wind: ENE  F3 gentle breeze
Sea: slight  Swell: negligible
Weather: sunny, warm
Day’s run:  74 nm sailed, 47 nm made good

Light winds continued overnight and, indeed, in the wee small hours of this morning fell to flat calm leaving Sylph drifting in circles. Come dawn, however, the wind slowly freshened and Sylph now leans nicely to a gentle easterly breeze, making good a very comfortable five knots on a smooth sea. One nice thing about being inside the Great Barrier Reef is that when the winds do fall light the seas die off very quickly and there is no swell to speak off. Consequently drifting is a relatively painless experience. In fact, drifting last night was more comfortable than the last few bays we have been anchored in.

This evening we hope to be swinging to a mooring off Hook Island in the Whitsunday Group.

All is well.