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Day 8 - Maine Passage

Hello from the North Atlantic, at XXX'N, YYY'W, heading to
Portland, ME after transiting Cape Cod's Boston and
Nantucket-Ambrose channels' intersection...

Day 7 ended becalmed and rough. However, by mid-evening, we were
seeing consistent 7-8-9 knots of wind and hoisted sails again.
Along the way, we enjoyed the tiny crescent moon's rise and fall
in short order.

Once the sails were up, the motion subsided greatly, and I
headed to bed. We were on a very close reach, moving reasonably
well in the ghostly wind, and I slept soundly. However, I woke
at midnight to Otto groaning beneath me. The wind had shifted,
and Lydia was essentially hove to, and trying to tack out of it.
Of course, the point of heaving to (when that's what you had in
mind) is to make it so the boat can't come into the wind. Also
known as putting her in irons, the only way out without making
some sail change is to jibe it.

So, we did, and I went back to bed. Lydia woke me at 2:30,
ready for a rest in our hotbunk arrangement. She'd already made
the pot of coffee, our practice with offgoing shifts, so that
the one who's being rousted in the middle of their sleep has a
running start. She reviewed the situation, which was pretty
much as it had been other than the wind shift and resultant
tack, and went off to her warm bunk.

Things stayed the same for a couple of hours, but then the wind
picked up, very quickly, to 15-20, out of the North, all the
while NOAA claiming it was from the west. However, I just
pinched along - which soon, did, in fact, become a beat, as the
water was pretty lumpy. By dawn, due to the North wind, I'd
come pretty close to the Boston Ship Channel, and - courtesy of
one of my correspondents, I learned - the end of Cape Cod's
infamous rip currents, compounded by dozens of returning
commercial fishermen who weren't standing watch and just likely
to run me down if I were in the wrong place at the right time.

So, I tacked away, but it was blowing so hard - and the wind was
continuing to shift, clocking further north - and the current
which had helped me going the other way now hurt me, that I
wound up EXACTLY retracing my path for a while. I decided that
wasn't very profitable, and about an hour later tacked again,
this time helped by the wind shift, making more progress north
than before, also allowing me to miss the hazards at the tip of
the Cape.

However, we were pretty well over-canvassed, and the boat was
heeling more than was effective for good traveling.
Accordingly, when Lydia came up to relieve me at 10, we took in
a reef and rolled up the genoa to probably no more than 75%.
This allowed Flying Pig to straighten up and fly right, so to
speak, making about the same speed and pointing ability, but
with much more comfort. At the same time, we tacked and headed
pretty much due East.

NOAA's had it pretty much wrong in this area, but if it's
correct, some time later today, the wind will shift to the east,
and it will be a little easier going. Unfortunately, the wind
is also supposed to die, so we'll see about that part! In the
meantime, we're headed back to our "go to" line from yesterday,
which we can pretty much maintain with the winds as they are
now. If we weren't having to beat, we could be running with the
full canvas out, making much better time, not to mention
direction. Anyway, for those who were watching SPOT, that's
what those crazy lines are about.

Actually, of course, this pattern isn't at all unusual in a
passage. We've just been blessed with better weather and
direction for all the preceding times. As a result of the
current events, however, we'll not make Portland today, nor,
perhaps, even, if this continues, tomorrow. Tacking takes a
great deal longer, and if we were to have to proceed entirely on
this basis all the way to Portland, it could well take a week to
get there. However, of course, the weather is forecast to
change.

NOAA (again with the suspicions!) says the wind will become
east, but then die. East is good, dead isn't... Later, still
(by days) the wind is supposed to clock around through the
southern quadrant, and be very high winds. A due south wind
with some energy behind it would suit us just fine, given the
direction of travel we need to take! Waiting for a couple of
days isn't so hot, however...

Well, NOAA got it part right... I went down for my nap after
we'd shortened sail, and Lydia tacked, taking us across our
original rhumb line, and then tacked back again. Active SPOT
watchers will see us zig and then zag.

However, not long after the tack, the wind, which didn't clock
at all, took a vacation. What was previously 15-20/gusts to 25
became 5-10 with occasional outbursts to 11,but mostly 6-9. All
the diminishment did nothing for the seas, which remained steep,
short, and lumpy. Fortunately, all that lack of enthusiasm from
Aeolus allowed us to put out the genny again, and the rock and
roll subsided a bit with the increased canvas, and our speed
slightly improved with the improved shape of the sail.
Unfortunately, as high as we need to point, we're not making
stellar time toward our destination. We're truly jaded by our
experience early in the trip; it was very hard to come off of
800 miles of perfect sailing to storms and endless headwinds...

Because it will be nightfall soon, we'll leave the reef in the
main - but we're not encouraged by the thought of not only no
wind but what there is coming directly from where we're going.
It would be ironic if it took us the same amount of time to go
the last 175 miles as it did the prior 900 or so. Lydia, being
known in the boating world for her enthusiasm for delayed
gratification, would no doubt scrub Maine and turn around
directly for Cape Cod.

Of course, the way it is the last few days, just about the time
we got to the entrance of Cape Cod Bay, it would blow like stink
from the south, as it's forecast (ya, right??) to do in a couple
of days :{))

For all that, the ride's a lot smoother, even if it is still a
roller-coaster, as the wind speed drop has mitigated some of the
chop, and it's a bit warmer, too. The barometer's still up, the
sun's still shining, and with any luck, tomorrow, we'll be able
to throw out the hooks to replenish the larder.

Even that's a joke, as we provisioned as though we'd catch
nothing, as has many times been the case when we've voyaged
before. That we succeeded in such measure, so immediately, has
made everything of a main dish nature that we brought along to
cook, remain, literally, unused, and still in the freezer. As
it was, we had to store the fish long enough to finish the steak
and chicken we'd cooked up before we left!

And, sort of on that subject, as refrigeration is a major power
user aboard any boat, for most of the day, our solar panels were
putting out 25 amps during the tacks which leaned them in the
direction of the sun, and the wind generator bounced along
between 10 and 25 amps as the wind rose and fell. As a result,
despite all the electronics, this computer which spends
inordinate amounts of time trying to find a signal to get this
tripe out (I either get no answer, or an incomplete connection,
many times with transmissions nearly finished but then lost with
the connection), the very consumptive transmissions on the SSB
during the connect times, and the still hungry refrigeration (I
have to figure out what's happening there, as it used to do fine
in much warmer circumstances), we've come from an overnight low
of 60% to, currently (pardon the expression) 90% in our bank, on
the day's outputs.

We finished up the last of our fish with an alfredo sauce and
penne and are slowly moving our way toward Portland. We should
be there tomorrow morning.


L8R

Skip, Lydia, and Portia, the sea cat

Morgan 461 #2 SV Flying Pig KI4MPC See our galleries at
www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery ! Follow us at
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"You are never given a wish without also being given the power
to make it come true. You may have to work for it however."
(and) "There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for
you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their
gifts."