Tuesday, 8 September 2009

Shortly after midnight (UTC) as we were drinking and telling stories, I heard and felt an unsettling bump. A glance at the radar indicated we had swung 180°, and though the depth finder showed 5 meters of water, the rudder was probably hitting ground. (The depth finder’s sensor is forward of the keel.) What was a spectacular anchorage for southwest winds was a terrible anchorage for northeast winds. A good anchorage is off a windward shore, or better yet in a bight (a small body of water bounded on three sides) open only to the lee. A terrible anchorage faces open water with the stern in a bight. We weighed anchor, motored out to the center, and dropped it again. There wasn’t a good anchorage in the area, and I did not want to go far after we had been drinking. Our saving graces in this case were lighter winds and excellent holding in sand, ie, the anchor was very unlikely to drag. We spent a less comfortable night than I had expected. This was the first time I had ever experienced a 180° wind shift when the winds were more than 15 knots.

At 1000 UTC we weighed anchor and began motoring to Port aux Basques, 280 miles away. At 1300 we were able to shut down the engine and begin sailing on a close (60°) starboard reach. We were able to do about 8 knots, fast for Maryam. We had a beautiful sail for about an hour, then the wind began to freshen and back. Soon we were close-hauled. At 1830 we rolled up the sails and began motoring again. At 2345 our port (red) running light at the bow quit working. We turned off those lights and turned on the tricolor light at the top of the mast. I have a feeling that the tricolor is supposed to be used only when sailing (not motoring), but I have not been able to confirm this in the regulations. At any rate, a working tricolor is better than non-working lights at the deck level.