Noon Report 12 April 2024 – CV23 Perseverance – North Pacific
Dancing with the waves.
Sailing is a form of art. Just before departing as an Ambassador on Leg 6 I was reading the blogs of our previous Perseverance Ambassadors. Sonja, one of our Ambassadors on Leg 5 wrote about sailing as a form of art. She calls it; “a delicate balance between human will and the forces of nature, where each decision paints a stroke on the vast canvas of the sea.” I couldn’t agree with her more!
By now we have completed about half of our North Pacific passage, we have crossed the International Date Line and the distance to Seattle is closing fast. The result of this: a red line marking our every movement on our electronic chart (or orange if you look us up in the Race Viewer). A single line capturing our helming skills, weather influences and tactical decisions.
It is an amazing feeling to be helming Perseverance, feeling the water rush around our yacht at around 10 to 13 kts. It is about the same speed as a cyclist, but faster than I have ever sailed, merely propelled by wind. However, every helm is different. Wind speed, sail plan, sail trim, point of sail, and sea state all have their influences. It is almost like dating: getting to know her better with every session behind the helm. How she responds in certain circumstances and in the ways to persuade her into staying on course. Sometimes she is easy going and sometimes she needs some more determination. The best moments at the helm are when star filled skies guide you through the night, gently dancing with the waves. Unfortunately, those nights are scare on the North Pacific – leaving us with a compass as our only steering reference.
The beauty of sailing for me lies in the physics of sailing. The play and balance between the aerodynamics working of the sails and the ship’s hydrodynamics. Forces that work together or balance each other out, giving us the speed that we are getting. It takes constant adjusting sail trim, sail plan, and wind angles in order to make her go as fast as possible, while always monitoring the latest weather forecasts in order to find the most optimal route, with enough wind!
The next few days it looks as if we will have enough wind to keep us going in the right direction. We have been monitoring a low-pressure system that is making is way north from Hawaii. We will be in for a number of bumpy cold, windy and wet days. Hopefully maintaining our cyclist speed towards Seattle, I am ready to continue dating on the helm and learning the deeper secrets of Perseverance.