Time: 05/26/2008 1200 UTC
Lat: 36 deg 53' N
Lon: 54 deg 20' W
Heading: 125 M
Speed: 6 kt
Wind: NE 10-15 kt
Seas: 4-8 ft
Weather: Cool, 60 degrees. Partly cloudy.
Well, the rain left us, and with it the wind. Last night, the winds died completely. The seas were dead calm. Not a ripple. It amazes me how quickly the seas change state. I would expect the waves to survive the wind by several hours, but they don't. We took down the sails in case this was the calm before the storm. It ended up being the calm before the smallest breeze, which after two hours of nothing, slowly built to a steady 10 knots out of the NE. In the light wind, the autopilot didn't have enough speed for steerage, so we had to hand steer. It was fun, reminded me of racing again, trying to eek out whatever we could from the smallest puffs of air.
The winds built out of the NE, our desired heading, so we sailed close-hauled all day tacking between 25 and 125 degrees. After days and days of running and reaching, sailing into the wind felt like sailing backwards.
We spoke with our weather router (thanks, Mom), who advised us to stay south of 38N for better winds. We were torn, as we expected a good current to the north. We decided to hold our latitude and see if we find current. This could shave two days off the trip.
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