May 6 - Day 17 Then we heaved to...

Position: S04deg08min/W142deg28min
Day 16's run: 109 nm
Avg speed: 4.5 kn
Course: 200 T
Wind: well, we'll have to discuss that....
Seas: as I said above...
Sails: 2nd reef main; jib
Fish: lol!
Ship's log: 1927 nm
The entire night was spent under 100% cloudy skies watching sheet lightning play out, and an occasional bolt from one of the larger cells in the distance. The morning was no different; 100% overcast and heavy rain. I figured we were either in a weak LP (low pressure) system (barometer 1007), part of the SPCZ (South Pacific Convergence Zone) or just a regular convergence zone our friendly forecasters couldn't see, as these unstable weather areas pop up and dissipate so quickly, often right before your eyes. Well, the winds picked up from the low 20's to high, but the seas started looking a bit different to me; spray driven foam tops from multiple directions, and I said "Enough, let's heave to." Infini had no trouble heaving to on port tack; the main was off to starboard a bit, and the helm turned to windward about 10-15 degrees and tied down. She settled about 60 degrees off the wind, just like the books say it's supposed to happen, and our speed dropped to avg 1.5 knots. I didn't see that "slick" that Lin and Larry Pardey talk about, but the winds were less than 30 and the seas about 6-8', so maybe conditions weren't that severe enough for that. Nearby was thunder and lightning, and it was pucker time. We couldn't determine the direction of anything - was this cell going parallel to us, on an intersecting course, or away from us? Sheets of rain fell as we strained to hear the thunder and try to figure out if the cell had moved. About an hour later the winds dropped to about 16 knots and the rain had tapered just a bit. The radar wasn't much help, as all it showed was a large blob that looked like something ready to eat Chicago, so we figured it was time to boogie on down the road. We put the jib back up and were making good time, just not in the direction we wanted, but at least it appeared to be "away" from the blob. Well, this has been one way to spend an interesting night and morning....

No comments: