Day 6
After almost three days of hard sailing, the wind settled considerably last night, dropping to 12-14 knots and shifting even further aft. Luckily I was on watch with Georgie as that happened, who confidently adjusted our heading by a few degrees to keep the main sail happy and Leona tootling along.
This morning Georgie, David and Jeff put the genoa on a pole out to starboard, so that we can catch all that lovely aft wind and ride the waves in a smoother flow. We now have all three sails out, and even with the lighter winds we are averaging 8 knots.
Sailing tidbit:
a pole is a temporary boom that keeps a sail in place.
starboard is the right side, port is the left
aft is to the rear, forward is to the front, or bow of the boat.
Look at me, with all that nautical lingo.
Georgie prepping lines for the genoa and pole setup
Today’s log was meant to reassure certain safety-first conscious readers that everyone on Leona takes safety seriously; about how we had our safety protocol meeting before we even left the Santa Barbara coastline; about how we always wear our life preservers on deck, clipped to the jack lines set around the entire circumference of Leona. I was going to talk about the Dan Buoy (a tall floating beacon that you throw if someone goes overboard), as well as the life ring with the light and the ladder over the side and the expanding life raft and the MOB’s for our wrists.
But then this happened:
Georgie puts a band-aid on the mainsail
Not to be outdone, David went up the mast as well, placing another chafe patch where the sail meets the spreaders (horizontal struts that come out of the side of the mast). I realize that climbing the rigging, walking out on yard arms, and hanging out in crow’s nests have been part and parcel of a mariner’s life since we first learned to harness the wind, but it doesn’t make it any easier watching one’s baby girl and hubby dangling in mid-air 40-50 feet above the middle of the Pacific Ocean while moving at 8 knots.
Neither of them batted an eyelid. All in a day’s work on the good ship Leona.
David gets his turn
Worry not, we will discuss safety measures in more detail tomorrow.
Meanwhile, a harness in the galley is always a good idea, especially when handling a precious cabbage.