The past 24 hrs have been frustrating on board Our Isles and Oceans. Given our location in relation to this low pressure to the north of us, we have a perfect 270 true wind direction, meaning that as we are heading east the wind is directly behind us. Neither of our two gybe angles is optimal for making progress towards the end of the northern limit. The sea state is large, five meters or so, but the wind strength is incredibly variable. At times we have under 15knots of breeze meaning we are wallowing in the waves, they are pushing us around, bullying the helms and making it hard for them to do their jobs. At times we have 30knts of breeze, meaning we are flying along surfing the waves, feeling great. Neither the waves nor the wind is conducive to flying a spinnaker, unfortunately.
Point to far down the wave and the Yankee makes an ungodly noise as it refills with power. Point too high up the wave, the boat powers up, accelerating you away from where you are trying to go and punishes you for a minor misstep in the steering.
Still, we had some scattered sun in between the rain clouds and made the most of the little rays of warmth to our skin wherever it was exposed. We had freshly baked cookies and polished off quite a large bag of sweets in a single four hour watch, so all can’t be bad.
On Deck Tunes: Currently the on watch is listening to a podcast about a father who wrote a surprisingly interesting piece of fiction. (If you know you know!!)
On Deck Snack: Mull watch: Peanut butter cookies
On Deck Chat: Team Jacob or Edward?
Max and the wallowing team of Our Isles and Oceans