The Low Arrives

July 4, 2018

Day 186/16

Noon Position: 42 15N 133 57S

Course/Speed: SE7+

Wind: NxE18-20, by 1300, NxE25-32)

Bar: 1011, steady

Sea: NE8

Sky: Low, gray, rain

Cabin Temperature: 67

Water Temperature: 59

Sail: After 1300, main, three reefs; working headsail, two; broad reach on port

Noon-to-Noon Miles Made Good: 138

Miles this leg: 2189

Avg. Miles this leg: 137

I thought we’d skirted the core of it or that the forecast was just wrong, but a building wind this afternoon went from high teens to low thirties in an instant, and suddenly the low was upon us.

A second reef went into the main immediately and then a third. The headsail is rolled to its official max. Those two carry wind just aft the beam, and on them we scoot along at 7 and 8 knots in a short and steep sea from the N.

Our course is SE, a line that puts us below San Francisco, but my read of the forecast says the center of the low is due E of us and I need to go S to get around the bottom or risk, first, no wind, and then the southerlies on the back side.

I still can’t grok that we are dealing with a low that has formed right here at 41N and 133W, in July.

584 miles to San Francisco at noon today. Making good time.