Wednesday 22 July

Wednesday 22 July
520 nm east of Block Island
The Weather - It started yesterday with a terrific thunderstorm. Then the day came and went. Sunny for a bit, cloud up and another squall, clear up, etc. but it wasn't too bad. Then last night the pattern developed with a series of squalls, some with wind and some with rain. We didn't seem to get both strong wind and heavy rain in the same squall. We tracked them on the radar so we knew when to take in the genoa, leaving the trisail up for stability. Basically the procedure.. was to take in the genoa, sheet the trisail tight, and go below and on the radar watch the squall go by. After you go out, get the boat going east, deploy the genoa, reset the windvane, and wait for the next one. The last one to come was not much rain but a torrential deluge of rain. It past, I looked out, and the sky was clean and blue, beautiful and calm. Obviously a cold front. Now we are dealing with the aftermath; rough seas and light wind. We are sailing about 3 knots, rolling gunnel to gunnel with the sails tight to reduce the flogging. A beautiful day, but really, really uncomfortable. Hard to just sit here, braced in three directions, trying to catch the keyboard as it slides back and forth.
Reef Early
Bill Doar
s/v Advent II