October 25, 2007

A Different Night
It's 23:30 hours local time now; that's 11:30 PM for civilians and land lubbers. Once again, the night has brought the breeze down, and after a couple of hours the sea state has followed. The swell is of moderate height, and has become smooth and regular. Even with only 5 knots of breeze and a couple of knots boat speed, the autopilot can maintain steerage. It's less strenuous to move around now than during the day, when the boat is pitching and rolling over an irregular surface. The moon is getting close to full now, and is so bright I have little concern for maintaining my night vision. There's so much light flooding from the moon that the stars have paled in comparison, the sweep of the milky way no longer distinguishable against the silver-gray sky. It's easier tonight to pick out the constellations, since only the brightest stars are visible at all. Ah, but things change. I just popped out to check for ships, and I can see the big cloud bank moving in from the east. Looks like the easy drift may soon end. Time to go to work. Ted