December 7, 2007

Majuro to Port
It's 4:30 AM. an hour before dawn, and the lights of Majuro are above the horizon on the port bow. We're in the pass between Majuro and Arno, with 10 miles of water to work with, but precious little light. The moon hasn't cleared the clouds on the horizon, and even part of the starlight is obscured by the little cumulus that have showered us several times tonight. I have Sequester sailing as slowly as she'll steer reliably in this much chop, making about 3.5 knots, watching the GPS, the Cmap, and taking bearings off the shore lights every few minutes.................. That last line was 20 minutes ago. I looked out to check position, and the sky was disappearing behind a giant rain squall. In a minute we were making 8 knots in 30 knots of wind, with blinding rain. I got pretty wet tending sails and waiting for the shore lights to re-appear. Now the rain's gone, the moon is visible, and we're making about 4 knots. Position looks good, but my adrenalin level's still up a bit. I'll see if I can send this now, and do more after daylight. All's well. Ted