The naviguessing break turned into a bit of a long fallderah. After a jibe to port to see how it looked, the wind and wave state has put us in a sail selection quandary. The mixed ocean is running about 8-10ft from two directions resulting in equivalent periods between slow and 5 seconds. The wave may be only 30ft from trough to trough, but 8-10 feet as a nice standing peak in the middle. Combined with wind that is varying from 18 to 30kts with about a 20min semi period. Result is that we can't consistently hold the 1.5oz AP kite ("Red Apples") without significant risk to the sail, and jib reaching angles are horrible and inconsistent. A brief period of wing-on-wing proved equally risky to the main from frequent waves forcing the main to jibe. ugh... Yellow Brick path probably reveals our various trial directions... this is the sort of thing that used to be rolled up into "slow day", but now is well documented!
We passed half way this morning! shortly after our 0800 position. The trials of today have not really allowed the usual sort of party. Though Shana made cinnamon rolls from scratch! Some were tired enough to sleep through dinner, which smelled fantastic - so are looking forward to catching up on the yummy calories. (wind currently piped up to 33kts, boat doing 9kts at 160twa)
All are well, and we're plugging along - not quite as clean and pretty as yesterday, but making progress and enjoying the ocean. Onward!
-Bequia
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At 7/14/2012 12:11 AM (utc) our position was 38°06.27'N 122°16.02'W
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For any of those who are reading this and not too familiar with ocean sailing, this is where every sailor on board is getting an 'extreme' mental, emotional and physical workout pretty much every second they are awake. They say they weren't losing weight before, but they will now. This may be one of the hardest parts, but also why they race - truly human against nature. Send them your good vibes!
ReplyDeleteSending good vibes and wishes for continued safety on your journey! Race on!
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