From extreme to extreme

Having complained about stronger winds than forecast, today I can complain about the opposite.

Yesterday morning’s winds were in front of a broad area of high pressure, which arrived last night. As I might have written yesterday, this was expected to remain in control for about 12 hours, with very light wind forecast llike 5 kts or less). Well, it’s now been 20 hours of light air.

Thanks to the duration of the calm, the waves have now dissipated and the sea is mirror smooth. The sun has been out all day, and I’ve used the time to dry out, clean up, and do a few repairs.

I’ve also been motoring constantly, with the sails up for just a tiny extra boost. But I need to watch my fuel consumption carefully–I will certainly want a fair amount in reserve for when I get closer to more traffic, offshore fishing gear, and, of course, Camden. So far, my gauge says I’m doing great, having used just over a quarter tank since leaving Camden–and that includes 20 hours of motoring. (However, given the shape of my fuel tank, one-quarter on the gauge is probably more like one-third in reality.) Anyway, I took advantage of the smooth seas to add one of my two spare jerry cans of diesel to the main tank. I’ll almost certainly want to use it to speed myself along, and it’s a lot easier to add in these conditions than when the waves are up. I plan to keep the second can in reserve for contingencies.

Motoring along, hoping for just a bit stronger winds (between 10-20 kts, please)…

Postscript Having drafted this but found it difficult to send, I looked at the forecast. The good news: the GFS model says I’ll get what I asked for–two days of 17-23kt winds from well abaft the beam. The not-so-good news: the Weather Service has another gale forecast predicted for my area based on an overland (mostly) low heading up the eastern coast of the U.S. They forecast winds of 25-35 kts well into my projected route. If the GFS is correct on direction and light on wind strength, that’s no problem. But hopefully the low will stay on the expected track or I might find the winds more forward of the beam (and therefore appearing even stronger, with the boat punching into waves, with slower progress toward Camden). All of this is much less (in whatever terms you like: wind strength, crew discomfort, obstacle to forward progress,…) than I’ve seen in the last few days, but I hope the computer model has it closer to right!