Today was a day of extremes. Sea Rover has seen everything from flat calm to driving rain and 20 knots of wind. In fact when Sea Rover saw the driving rain and 20 knots of wind it had been sunny and calm two minutes before. All the drills that the captain has forced on the crew paid dividends during this particularly exciting squall as everyone sprung into action. The boat was turned down wind, genoa furled in, main reefed, hatches battened down, bodies and boat cleaned... It should be noted that some of the crew expressed interest in reefing early. As usual, the captain declined all such advice instead preferring the exhilarating action that leaving things till the last second affords. The captain has quietly noted that the crew only respects or follows his commands during moments of terror and as such, likes to take advantage of these occasions as often as possible. It seems surprising to the captain that these kinds of squalls have been faced so far north of the ITCZ (where they are expected). Perhaps this is strictly Neptune slowly training Sea Rover, Captain and crew for the main events further south.
The latest forecast is not looking good for the "run the engine until we can't anymore" approach... Maybe Sea Rover will see wind for a period of longer than 4 hours sometime in 3 days or so.
Everyone reading this blog should pray to their god for wind!
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