Chop and Blue Sea

Wednesday Jun 24, 2009 @  21:46 

34 13.4 N, 138 51.7 W 

You salts out there have probably figured out that Coby's wife is not yet a sailor. Forgive me my errors, and feel free to comment. What I know I have picked up in the last two years, helping Coby prepare for this voyage. As many folks following this know Coby, but don't know boats, I'll be explaining terms as best I can.

Wind veers NW for a day and a half now. Small, rough, choppy swell. Then the wind comes from the N, and sets up a somewhat contrary chop. To cut through it well, he would be "head to wind" or "in irons" - traveling straight into the wind, not a viable sailing method. 

The result of all this is that the wind and the swells conspire to kick Snookums broadside to the swells. It rocks the boat. The rail (leeward?) sometimes touches the water -- not from speed, but from rocking. (Not dangerous, but not comfortable, either).

The picture is of Snookums being lowered into the Columbia right after her christening. It shows her deep keel. This is one reason she is so steady and safe, and also why the current affects her so much. When she can cut through the waves, she is magnificent. Broadside, she presents a lot for them to push on.

He has two reefs in the main (these are tucks to lessen the sail area) to lessen the tendency of the wind to turn him sideways. (if I understand him right) and he has set the windvane to steer him more to port than what he actually needs, in order to compensate. His windvane is a large blade, similar to a ceiling fan blade, that reacts to the wind. It helps keep the boat headed in the right direction, and oriented to the wind. 

He only has felt the beginnings of seasickness once. He was moving some things in the V berth. The waves were causing Snookums to be airborne, at least in front. Items he hadn't stowed back yet were floating in the air on the drop. Moments of weightlessness. He began to get hot, one of the signs, so he went above and was fine. 

He reports the sea is an amazing blue. One spring, we saw a luminous sky in early twilight. He had taken me to see a magnificent old flowering cherry, now gone. The color of the sky, seen throught the dripping blossoms was most memorable. He says that the sea is that color. You can see deeply into it, and the shafts of light go down into it, at least twenty feet. 

The moon out again, still a very thin sliver.