A Gale of a Time

Saturday morning, September 3

We just finished our first hot meal since lunch on Thursday. Cranberry pancakes! (Perhaps your next few minutes would be better spent rooting around in your freezer looking for that half package of cranberries that you threw in there last November rather than reading on. Our crew guarantees that you will not be disappointed when you bite into those bursts of tartness drenched in maple syrup.)

Thursday the wind increased from the north til we reefed both sails for the night at 25-30 knots. By morning we had 40 knots and a tear in the main just along the luff just above the third reef point. Reefing again just after sunrise, we began what Charlie termed "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride." The gale blew in the forties with occasional readings of over 50 knots. The seas grew to over 20 feet while the wind swept away their foamy tops. Watching the big ones come up behind us lifting the boat to a wave top view provided endless entertainment. From the cockpit we looked out over a dazzling view of wind swept white water reminiscent of ski lift views over snowy mountain tops on a fine morning.

The ride grew even better when Paul noticed an orca slicing through our wake. It flipped onto its back and swam under the boat. Later another large one appeared diving vertically in a high wave behind the boat, black with white patches through blue water just a boat length away. Wow!

The boat does all the work once the sails are set, so we had a chance to study GRIB weather files that Charlie downloaded. They show little feathers on the wind arrows, one for every 10 knots of wind. As we sailed down the millibars toward 1009, the low, and to 40* N where there were only 2 feathers instead of 3 (should have been 4), we took bets on when the wind would drop. Charlie bet 3 a.m. Eric bet 5 a.m. Susie took 10:30 p.m. At 11 as we hit 40* 14' we saw the last of 40 knots. It was declared that Susie owed the others a fudge brownie sundae. (Crew justice at its best.)

Our best day so far 2100 hours Thurs to 2100 hours Friday, 168 miles made good (we didn't record sea miles), puts us a day and a half from San Francisco.