Windhorse Sailing

Day:4
Position: 41.50 south, 61.15 west
Airtemp: 45F
Daylight: 8.75 hrs
Heading: SSW
Weather: Clear, W Winds 20-25 knots
Seas: 10 SW swell

Going into last night we had light southerly winds that danced from due south to southwest.  In the late evening we went over to a starboard tack heading SSE away from land.  I set the wind vane to steer us against the wind and checked on it periodically knowing that if the wind shifted more westerly as we expected the windvane would alter our course in proportion to the wind shift always keeping the same angle on the wind. Down below, the movement of the boat and the sounds of the rigging would alert us to any imbalance. An added measure was setting the alarm on our radar to warn us of other vessels within five miles. All these meaures allowed us to enjoy a couple episodes of the West Wing on DVD.

We had an easy night with plenty of sleep. Each of us checked things now and again during the night. A great night gave way to a great day. The sun shining and, as forecasted, winds from the West at 15-20 knots. The day was a sled ride at seven knots of speed headed in the general direction of our goal 200 miles to our SW, Bahia Janssen.

Tactically we are keeping close to shore to avoid the north running Faulklands current further out. Also we are targeting a few specific safe havens. If all else fails we have a Fiorrentino 12′ parachute anchor that will hold us steady in heavy weather, but it would be less wear on the gear and us if we could find a safe anchorage. To that end we have scouted a few, and there are few on the Argentine coast, that we will run to if the forecast looks ominous.

Bahia Janssen is one such haven. Morning and night we receive a weather fax via Single Side Band radio for southern South America put out by the Chilean Armada. Daily we receive a weather forecast via email from Maxsea. Using these we try to predict the paths of the very fast moving lows and highs. I say we try to predict, but we actually hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

The worst right now is a southwest gale right in our face sometime  Sunday. Our hope is to be
anchored in Bahia Janssen watching ‘The West Wing.’

As I write we are still enjoying the Westerly wind driving us to the SW and Bahia Janssen at over 8 knots. However the swell from the SW is growing foretelling of the gale to come, perhaps sooner than we thought. The race is on.