Sunset over the ocean
06/14/02
This was an action packed day. To start, we set full sail at 0530. It was lightly raining at this time with a 12 knot ENE wind. We were on a port tack, struggling to make as much headway east as possible. Thus began an arduous day of walking uphill and fighting gravity for every cabin movement. At 0900 we spotted a research vessel which was on a course to come very close to us. We called Eric, who turned on the VHF channel 16. It turned out to be the research vessel ENDEAVOR, and they advised us they were towing an instrument a quarter mile off their stern, and that we should maintain a safe distance. We readily complied.
The wind began to increase, and at 1000 we reefed the jib. Within the next hour the wind freshened to 20 knots, and we reefed the main. It was still raining, and I put on my fancy foul weather gear for the first time and sat in the cockpit. I was beginning to feel consistently queasy, and sitting in the cockpit was the best way to address this feeling. It was quite an experience sitting in the cockpit on the windward side of the boat, watching the waves roll under us and feeling the undulation as the boat conformed to the motion of the sea. At this point, I looked off the starboard side and spotted a whale, the dorsal fin and body popping out of the water. I kept looking but did not see any more of them. Later on, we spotted a low-flying plane cruising around. Eric identified it as possibly a Neptune plane, which is equipped to search for submarines. I should also mention that right after we passed the ENDEAVOR, we encountered a huge sailing yacht, heading in the opposite direction from us.
Things continued the same through the afternoon, with us beating our brains out. I was fairly miserable, as my bunk was on the high side and very uncomfortable at this point, and to make matters worse there were several leaks dripping seawater in various places on my bunk, so it was like Chinese water torture when laying down. To make matters worse, the Navtex was calling for gale force winds from the NorthEast that night, a thought that did not appeal to me in the least.
Suddenly at 1700, I was on watch, and looking out the windows on the starboard side I noticed the rail more and more in the water. I glanced at the anemometer and saw the wind speed reading from 30 to 35 knots. “Oh Shit”, I thought. This may be the beginning of the gale. But then, just as suddenly as the wind picked up, it died altogether. We rolled up the jib and motored for a half hour, then the wind started up again. What we had experienced was a squall, Eric said. A squall is a very localized weather event, which brings temporarily high winds and sometimes rain, and generally disturbs the normal wind pattern. After the squall has come and gone (it moves fast), the wind pattern returns to normal. Later on the wind veered and became very light. When I came on watch we were barely making enough speed to steer a heading of 060. The wind began to die altogether and I was desperately trying to steer the boat back on course. The sails were flogging wildly, which woke up Eric, and he came on deck, assessed the situation, and decided to roll up the jib and start the engine. In the case where there is no wind and a sea running, the waves caused the boat’s motion to ship the sails around erratically, which can be very damaging to the sails. At the end of my watch, I went to a relatively level, dry bunk, as we were no longer close-hauled. I slept so well that Eric had to wake me up for the next watch. At this time (0400), the conditions were the same (motoring with no wind) but the sky was clearing up and it was getting lighter. Around 0430 I spotted porpoises around the boat. Sometimes three of them popped out of the water at the same time. They only stuck around for a few minutes, though. I received a new weatherfax at 0501. We had received a few of these, but have not been able to interpret them very well. At this time I was able to see my first ocean sunrise of the trip. It was quite a sight. I then tried to get a picture, but I am sure it did not do justice to the scene. As the sun rose, the golden shimmering on the ocean waves was a scene I shall not soon forget. It is starting out to be a glorious day.
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