Chill is in the air

Time: 2021/07/08 02:50:29
Latitude: 32-27.63N
Longitude: 167-51.59W
Speed: 5.6
Course: 304T
Comment:



It is official, wool socks and boots have made their debut to accompany my night shift ensemble. No more sitting barefoot at the helm at night for the foreseeable future. And then today, even during the day shorts are no longer being worn by three of the four crew. At 22C inside the salon, only Ella is tough enough to keep wearing short sleeves and shorts. Mind you, she is the one who wore shorts even at 5,000m altitude while trekking in Peru, so I suppose she has demonstrated she is the toughest of the bunch here.

We continue to battle the NE winds and at this stage we have just accepted the reality that we are going to continue to be pushed NW whether we like it or not. The goal now is to do a large loop westward then north to get around this pesky high pressure system that seems to be keeping pace with our NW advance. Theoretically we will eventually see favourable winds that will push us north towards Kodiak. So far the forecast has held true the last 7 days so I am hoping we can continue to trust what the forecast is saying that eventually we will see more pleasant conditions. For my shift of 12am to 3am this morning, I had a fantastic watch. Seas were not awful, winds held consistent. Then D takes over and suddenly he saw winds from all directions, ugly seas and driving rain from squalls marching over and around us. Needless to say, it did not make for pleasant sleeping conditions but honestly I was happy to be down in the warm, dry cabin than up where he was.

The rest of the day, the waves just have not wanted to settle. When I stupidly asked how many days we have been sailing and D said we had just finished up 6 days, I felt like crying a little. We have not had a break from an average of 20 knots of wind and 2+ meter waves since we left Hanalei, I wish I was exaggerated but I am not. On the positive side, we have not had to turn on the engine once, it has been fantastic sailing, just would be more pleasant if at a more agreeable angle and calmer seas please. Further, we have been charging our batteries 100% each day by solar alone so really there are loads of positives. We are trying to keep a good sense of humour as D just said "It is starting to feel comfortable, my molars are not crashing together as much, should I turn us more upwind?!" For those not nautically inclined, more upwind is never more comfortable...well at least not on Maple.

Well that is all from us for now. All is well on board. Really looking forward to getting on a port tack as I feel at this stage we have identified all leaks on the starboard side, so why not test out the port side soon.