Wind SW 6.6kts Seas 1ft
Mahina Kai – Day 4 Marion to Bermuda –
Weatherman said
there’d be days like this
The Weatherman said there’d be days like this. There’d be days like this,
the Weatherman
said.
Weather weather everywhere, but not a gust to
sail by.
Having cleared the main Gulf stream current, we
are now in
the third leg of this race, the Sargasso Sea and Bermuda approach. The challenge now is to
thread the needle of
ocean currents and setup a route that provides the fastest path to
the finish
line outside .
At the Skipper’s briefing on Thursday, the
Meteorologist described
how the winds from the receding storm on Friday would give way to
high pressure
areas around Bermuda, and cause winds to lighten. He said to bring a deck of
cards for the last
leg. He was right about
that! In late evening
yesterday, winds began to
fade, and today we find ourselves with barely four knots of wind
and flat
seas. Although we see no
vessels around
us, we know many other boats are experiencing the same situation.
When there is a little wind, a sailboat cuts
through the
chop of the waves and rides relatively smoothly to its powerboat
cousins. But, when there
is no wind, a sailboat bobs
around like a cork in a bucket. When
waves
move past, the boat rocks back and forth, unfilled sails rattling. It
becomes noisy, bouncy, and a difficult place to sleep!
Today on the watch,
we have seen some Portuguese Man o’ War, and Sargasso seaweed,
which becomes
more prevalent once we pass the gulf stream.
Yesterday’s Cookie of the day: Fair winds!
Thankfully, we get a little lift in the wind
around
lunchtime. We adjust our
sails, make
final course adjustment to Bermuda, and we are on our way. Progress is modest, but at
least we are
making forward advancement against the currents. This fades after a few hours
and in the afternoon
we are again halted and bobbing. There
is
a wind rally around dinnertime. We
are
hopeful for some consistency in the wind, which will make for some
progress
in the night.
BLT Sandwiches and chicken salad are on the
menu, chicken
pot pie for dinner, Cookie of the day is: Blue whales.
#SVMahinaKai #MBR2017
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