Theres an old adage among sailors that, if youre beginning to think about reefing your sails, its time to do so.
This was illustrated sometime between 9-10pm last night. It was a beautiful night sail: smooth seas, consistent wind, great visibility with an almost-full moon. I noticed a few clouds off to windward, but didnt think much of them (there are clouds around all the time). Then I saw a couple of flashes of lightening. Remembering the adage, I decided to put in two reefs in the main (this reduces its sail area by something like 60%).
Now, I have a pretty good setup forefinger, and can do it in less than 5 minutes. When I started, the winds were 12-15 kts. When I finished, they were 18-22kts. Ten minutes later, I saw 30. Talk about the nick of Time!
It was also unusual in that the higher sustained winds werent just at the frontI saw 20-30kts until about 4am, long after the skies had cleared again. Since theyd also gone aft, I was a little concerned about a gybe in the event they backed a bit more, so I slept in my life jacket, ready to dash on deck, and checked the wind direction every 10-15 minutes. (Of course, experienced sailors know the signs of an impending gybeespecially the sound of the jib losing pressure and starting to move across the deck (the jib generally gybes first). But even a preventer-controlled gybe can be ugly in 30kts, big seas, at night.)
Anyway, no gybe. By daylight, the wind had fallen to less than 20kts and all that remained were some pretty big 12-15) seas. Fortunately, these were well organized, so the motion wasnt too bad. Everything has continued to moderate over the course of the day. The wind is now 13kts from 150 TWA and the rolling waves are getting a bit smaller.making way at 7.5-8.5kts over the ground. 750nm to Antigua (920 to Blue Hill).
One last note. Strangely, it feels a lot lonelier on this route as compared to Sailing across the Atlantic. On that route, almost everyone coming from the East Coast heading for Western Europe follows pretty much the same great circle route. So I was almost never out of sight of another vessel. (Sight in quotes because I mean visible on my AIS display, which can show transmitting ships 20-30nm away.). Now, I see at most two vessels per day (and Ive actually spotted only two vesselstankerssince I left. Thats because they have all been on courses perpendicular to my own (heading from the Gulf of Mexico to Europe). Anyway, I thought it was interesting.
Propulsion mystery: still unsolved. Maybe tomorrow, when the winds are forecast to moderate even more and the sea state should settle further.
There was a small LOW pressure system developing on the front which passed you which then continued to intensify to the east. That is what caused the winds to pick up and continue for a while after the frontal passage. From now on I don’t see any more frontal passages heading your way, but maybe a gradual increase in northerly winds backing to the NE and then E. Not too unusual in that part of the world at this time of year, and should help you on your way to Antigua! Here’s to good sailing and good arrival!
Tracker working well, Scott. It appears that you are making good time and off southern Florida – well done!
Did the sea state moderate as anticipated?
One advantage of having SSB on board during long offshore passages is that one hears of vessels on similar destinations when they sign into a SSB net like Cruzheimers (8.152 MHz USB at 0830 EST) and Do Dah (same frequency at 1700). Vessel Growl Tiger is on a path from Norfolk to Antigua at about 27N last I heard. Coms skeds makes the time go by.