Day 123 – Gliding Along
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Fri 15 Apr 2022 08:01
Course: NNW Speed: 6.5 knots
Wind: ESE F4 Sea: slight
Swell: SE 2m
Weather: sunny, warm, humid
Day’s Run: 134nm
We continue to make steady progress to the NNW as the trade wind blows fair from the ESE.
I notice that I repeat myself with the start of yesterday’s blog entry, but to some extent that is the nature of trade wind sailing, it gets a bit repetitive, not to mention hot.
Yesterday afternoon the wind backed more into the east leading me to drop the pole at 1610, and eased overnight so our speed has been up and down a bit, but still a very satisfactory day’s run.
As Sylph glides along, requiring minimal attention from me, a challenge at the moment is finding meaningful, and not so meaningful, things to do to fill the day, especially as the nights are hot, humid and consequently restless. As a matter of ship’s routine, at sea and in harbour, I generally like to devote the forenoon to ship maintenance or other Sylph related activity then allow myself the afternoon to do non-ship activities, though of course in harbour with a 62 year old steel boat often the afternoon is devoted to maintenance as well.
This forenoon I cleaned the galley area and then stripped the paint off the bulkhead above the galley back to the bare formica. It is a messy job but fortunately relatively easy to clean up. I originally painted the bulkhead some twenty-four years ago because the formica was damaged in places when I removed the mirror tiles (a previous owner and member of the RSAYS was a bit of hip '70's dude). Now the paint has yellowed with age and needs repainting. The area above the galley is but one small part of what needs to be repainted, but it is a start, though I won’t be repainting it until I get back to port.
Tomorrow I might tackle the starboard side above the quarter-berth.
All is well.