LORD'S PRAYER LOG, Part 09:
February 4, 2000
0230 The boat has wallowed becalmed for the last several hours. Rather than remain in this condition, I have struck the sails and am under power of the engine. By the looks of the weather charts I am currently in a position just north of where I should (hopefully) soon find the easterly trade winds.
0545 Sunrise.
0800 The wind has come up 11-13 kts out of the SE - dead on the nose! The immediate question: shall I take up a starboard tack and head east, or shall I take up a port tack and head SSW. Either choice is about 55 degrees from the direction I want to go. The answer likely is in knowing what the wind is going to do in the future and how I can best take advantage of that. At the best, any prediction of what the winds are going to do is an educated guess. The Weather fax information is of limited help since for the past two 6-hour forecasting periods the only thing I have received when I should have gotten the wind and wave charts has been a statement, "chart not available". Furthermore, the text forecasts have not been helpful. There is a hint (from an older text forecast) that over the weekend and into Tuesday the SE wind will back around into the E or NE. But it doesn't sound like there will be much change till late Monday and there is plenty of time between now and then for that to change. If I take the SW heading I will be driving the boat further south deeper into the region of the trade winds, which should increase the likelihood of some boisterous sailing if nothing else. But it means backtracking to the west somewhat. If the wind backs all the way
around to NE and does it soon enough I might get enough of a lift to clear the Leeward Islands without another tack to the eastward. But at best I would be close hauled all the way and that is a slow point of sailing for the boat. Furthermore, if I wind up having to take a tack to the east a couple of days from now after the wind has backed, I won't have as good a heading as I can get today. So
better I do the necessary easting today and perhaps sometime tomorrow come around onto the Port tack.
0820 I hoist the sails, shift steering to the Monitor Wind Vane and secure the engine.
1100 With the wind freshening to 17-18 kts, I put a single reef in the mainsail. The heading now is about 090 T. The seawater temperature here is 76, the air temperature 78 and the sky partly cloudy with high thin clouds. Other than having a head wind, it could not be a nicer day.
1530 The wind has abated to 11-13 kts; it remains in the SE. I shake the reef out of the mainsail and hoist it full up
1652 Sunset.
1850 Position: 24-34N 061-08W. The boat remains close-hauled on starboard tack making about 4 kts with the heading still approximately 090 T.
END OF LORD'S PRAYER LOG, Part 09


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