Knight Rider

Day 14

Stats -  9/13/2023 

Time: 2300

Trip Miles: 1,698 at 1200

Weather: Mild - semi overcast,

Wind: 18 Knots blowing from the NW

Sea State: Relatively calm with four foot swells with the occasional eight footer

Propulsion: Sailing 6.5 knots northeast (we like north…east not so much)

Sea Temperature: 59 - It’s getting cold in the cabin too

How Northerly Are We?: Vancouver Island

My 0400 to 0800 watch is a special time. I am usually decently rested having slept 2.5 to 3 hours from 0000 to 0400. For some reason, getting up is not super painful like it would be at home. It is not stressful because by 0400, the worst of the night is over sailing-wise. Typically the winds have been picking up around midnight so by 0400 the weather is steady and the sails are pretty much reefed so there is not a lot to do. Last night was typical as by the time I woke up, Randall had already reefed both the main and the jib and we the boat was screaming along. Randall suggested that I take some night shots, so here I am at 0415.

Here is the nav(igation) station. One could curl up in the seat to the left except we are on port tack which means that the wind is blowing on the left side so the boat is leaning to the opposite side so you would fall out of that seat on a night like last night (so you would sit on the opposite side). I like to keep the red light on at night so it does not detract my night vision.

As mentioned above, MŌLI was screaming along. Our average speed for a good sail is around 6 to 6.5 knots. We can often do better than that by going 7 to 7.5. Last night the wind was hitting us on our beam and we started going faster than 8 knots. The boat was fully engaged as it took the 8 foot rolling swells at maximum speed with the sails trimmed to the 16 to 20 knots of wind we were receiving. I took out my camera ready to capture how much better than 8 knots we could do. I happened to “click” when we hit 9 knots. Randall reports 9 knots is a MŌLI record for flat out (non-surfing) sailing. Question: Who gets credit for the record? Randall because he trimmed the sails before he went to bed, or me who happened to be on watch?

Even though we utilize two professional weather forecasting programs (one American and the other European), navigation is more art than science. It is easy to see the wind and weather forecast in any given area over a seven day period. What is much more difficult is to predict the position of the boat over that period of time as we try to capitalize on the wind we want and move away from wind that we do not want (storms, high pressure systems or wind from the wrong direction). Randall spends much of his day on the navigation software doing his best to predict where the weather is coming from. This has been an atypical fall weather pattern with lots of non-productive high pressure systems that keep the trade winds from blowing their predictable patterns. This confounds and makes the job of navigating extra difficult, not to mention the difficulty of getting MŌLI to her intended destination.

No rest for the weary. The rougher the weather, the more water collects in the forward lazaret that holds the anchor and other storage located on the deck. On a regular basis, that locker must be drained. You can see the hose that attaches from the forward locker and drains to the engine bilge that must then be hand pumped overboard.