September 23, 2009

Wednesday’s Run
The wind stayed away almost all night, but as the eastern sky went from black to gray, a breeze brushed the water. By 7:00 AM the spinnaker was drawing, set to pull directly downwind. The forecast was for 10 knots, NW, and here it was. By 10:30 there were whitecaps, and the sea was piling up a little. I've gotten into enough trouble with a spinnaker in too much wind to be easily scared, and fearing the wind would continue to increase, we struck the big sail again. We'd been running at better than 6 knots for a couple of hours, and the drop to 5 with the jib and main out felt slow, as the wind never increased, but putting the "chute" up is work, and would probably make the wind increase again, so we opted for patience. The wind increase has been slow, but steady, and it's nearly 15 knots now, with a big enough sea built up that we surf a little as each wave passes. Expect the rise to continue, until by tomorrow we'll have a bit more than we really want, but no indication of even a near gale. And for 2 days it should be right behind us, so we'll be making time. Looks like a real possibility that we could make the Bay of Islands by Saturday. That would be good, as Sunday the wind should clock forward of the beam, harder sailing for working in and up the bay. For now, it's all hiss and gurgle, and miles sliding under the keel. 29 deg 13 min S, 169 deg 44 min E Ted