The crew is a little glum today. Yesterday we did the time/speed/distance calculations and were excited to see that we would make landfall on Friday afternoon, the perfect time to enter the legendary Bay of Virgins. But just before my watch last night the wind dropped suddenly, and despite our weather predictions of more of the same for the duration, we found ourselves making 3-4 kts instead of the 5-6 kts we’ve been averaging all week. We convinced ourselves it was just a local anomaly but the wind never came back all night and now we can’t see a way to reach our destination by sundown Friday.
No prudent sailor enters a strange harbor in the dark so that means we will have to sail back and forth outside until daybreak Saturday. I’d been counting down the night watches and now I have to add one more.
That’s sailing for you. It’s a joy to harness the power of the sun and the wind to get us where we’re going and run our systems, but it’s foolish to think we’re in control. All we can do is maximize the opportunities to move forward and hope for the best. Today will tell the tale.