48:01.166N 009:30.710W
SV Eleonora
Michael A. Andronov
Fri 13 Jul 2018 10:37
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UTC 0927
3778.9 nm... I know, it is not even
funny anymore... I still remember how the numbers going... It will be 3779.x
after, then 3800.xx... then 4xxx..xx.... But does it matter ?
Another computer -- another story...
206.8 nm to go... But - 'politely' - it is not
telling how long it would take.... Just provides the VMG... No
point to calculate, since the wind will change, the VMG
will change... And I would write again in the next update, '
About 200 nm to go to destination...'.... ;-)
I wrote 'the wind will change', didn't
I? How nice of me... Actually, there is
another trick ahead... We are moving into the ridge, which has a 'big
nearly round spot' on top of the southern Ireland... We are moving
into this spot precisely... And another computer, this time not mine...
this time NOAA computer, which is cranking GFS weather model... either forgot to
calculate the wind EXACTLY in that area... or the absence of wind arrows means
NO WIND AT ALL, indeed... I guess, we will learn as we get
there... though I'm breaking my head -- how to avoid it...
The nap I mentioned in previous note -- was
really short. And we has been tarcking since. I lost track of
tacks... I did not update all of them on the blog... But at the middle of
the night, we found some 'more Northerly wind' and managed to get some
progress straight to the East... and then some NW... and then NEE... and
then ... becalmed for some time.... In the morning -- the total (
bottom line ) we got some NEE progress, toward 009.30
W, and at this point, as the wind changed, the boat
decided to tack...
( One day, I'll become wise... I will
learn / get the wisdom, and , hopefully, I would be able to understand why
the women -- if not all in general, then at least, the women I'm
care off... are changing their mind and temper instantly, on the spot... as
if the End Of The World has arrived a split second
before, or, more accurately, with no apperent reason at all
... At this moment, I'm talking about my lovely boat, --
so, do not look into the mirror(s), please ! -- which decided to tack 'Right
NOW! NOW! NOW, I said... ' ).
One day, I'll become wise... But today,
I heard, I rather sensed through my closed eyes, that the wind -- or what
ever we called the lightest movement of the air -- has changed, the wave
moved the boat a bit, and she tacked... Big dieal... reset a new
course on autopilot, get to the cockpit, change tack on yankee, change
tack on forestay... adjust, re-crheck, adjust...
'
...
-- ok, I'm coming, I'll do it, just give a
minute...
-- I said now, NOW!
-- C'mon... what a rush... we are nearly heaving
to... Just one minute -- to wake up...
-- NOOWWW!
...
'
How stupid of me... I was not
arguring... I've been trying to speak reason at the point... when time to be
reasonable long time gone...
And I got my lesson...
I started to tack, but the boat was not
cooperating...
Tacking the yankee unviled the fact that one
of the sheets went through the metal snap, with which the forestay sail is
attached to the removable forestay...
And now, the flopping yankee is trying to
tear off the forestay... and there is no enough space in that
snap for both the metal forestay and yankee sheet... that is why -- it
stacked pretty good... ( And completeyl unclear, how it managed to get
there at first place... )
Rushing to the front, with safety line
attached, with the boat dancing and moving on each wave, which I do
not know where are coming from -- it was not even Force 3 a second
before... lines flopping, trying to hit... reaching the
forestay to evaluate... Looking up, on the forestay... The boat
diving into the incoming wave... I wrote before, it is
impossible to take a shower outside... didn't I? I've been
wrong... It is possible...
I lowered the forestay sail... I undid the
snap... we tacked... the sails have been adjusted... we are going
NNE now, towards the zone with no wind at all... The wind,
which was ready to strangle me with all lines around at once, to cover into the
sails to be turned off their fittings, and to drop overboard... has also gone...
with no trace... Actually, nearly all wind gone... the Ocean
is flat... probably Force 2... may be, may be the begining of Force 3...
What was it about? Why we needed to tack at
that particular moment? Why the line got caught now, and never before
? The boat looks happy, with water smoothing under the hull, and you
can hear the noise of movement... as if nothing had happened... And only
the pile of my soaked wet clothers confirm it has been in real, not in a
dream...
One day, I'll become wise... and I will
learn...
But now, we are sailing happily,
thinking what to do with a ridge...
Until next time,
M.
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