Wind coming and going today
Hamsi
John Anderson
Sun 18 Jun 2017 17:56
Had a pretty gentle sail with slowly reducing wind overnight and were
becalmed this morning in an area of high pressure. The batteries needed
charging so we've run under engine for a couple of hours to do this, and also
get some forward progress - with a wish that moving may bring us to an area with
a bit more wind. Although in life you have to be careful what you wish for.
It's always difficult to know whether to burn diesel and motor when there
is not enough wind to make progress under sail, in order to get back to work on
time at the end of the trip, or to conserve diesel in case it is needed for
unforseen circumstances. Last year on the way across Neil and I were
frugal with the diesel and had a lot in reserve. When we ran into
difficulty with the mast under threat we had enough diesel to motor whenever
higher winds appeared (higher winds were then putting a strain on the mast
risking bringing it down). This was probably what got us out of bad trouble
then. So, I think prudence is probably best.
The other thing that got us out of trouble then was getting up one morning
when we were prepping the boat in Scotland and finding that someone had dumped
some empty heavy duty plastic jerrycans next to the skip in Creran Marine.
There was space for more cans on deck so we cleaned these up and filled them
with diesel. This ended up giving us 24 hours of motoring that we would
not have had - and in the event we used it all. Funny the things life can throw
your way.
47:43.55N 34:50.82W |