Plodding Away the Miles

September 8, 2019

Days at Sea: 279
Days Since Departure: 344

Noon Position: 70 52N 146 50W
Course(t)/Speed(kts): WxN 6
Wind(t/tws): SE <10
Sea(t/ft): SE 1
Sky/10ths Cover: Overcast. Clear earlier, rain later. 10
Bar(mb): 1009+
On-deck Temp(f): 43
Cabin Temp(f): 65
Water Temp(f): 36
Relative Humidity(%): 40
Magnetic Variation: 17.6 

Sail: Motoring, main up.  

Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good (nm): 146
Miles since departure: 35, 453

That’s the thing about the Figure 8–there are just so many many miles of it…

A not very interesting stretch of water, this. The sky is hung with cloud that now and then sends down enough rain to wet the boat without giving it a rinse. The wind, when there is wind at all, is so light as leave the main unperturbed as it hangs from the mast like so much laundry. Sometimes there is a seal to break the smooth surface of the water. If ever there is a bird, it’s a seagull, the pigeon of pelagics. 

A good breeze briefly this afternoon. We sailed for twenty minutes with the engine off. Such sweetness, a hull sliding silently through the water. Then calm again and on came the engine. 

Overnight, auroras through a thin haze, green curtains undulating above the mast. It is surprising how fast they move, whipping a whole length of sky in mere minutes. Sadly, they make poor pictures.

One domestic joy: only recently have I learned to toast bread on the diesel heater, a watershed moment on Mo! Sure, one can use the galley oven for this, but it’s a fiddle. Now, every morning I have buttered toast with jam.* For lunch, I spread on some of the Danish delicacies that were my last purchase in Sondre Upernavik, liver pate and pickled cabbage. 

At this pace, twenty-four hours to Barrow. Then the fun begins.  

*I departed San Francisco with enough jam to sink a ship, all homemade and by two very good friends, Jim and Kelton. Each friend gifted me with a quantity from his own kitchen that was, alone, enough for the voyage, and I thought for sure I’d return with a hold still full of jam. I will not. I may actually run out.