The Blue Blues
Before we left for our passage, multitudes of friends and family members wished us “fair winds”. That’s what we hoped for as well, so we uploaded the PredictWind app on all of our devices so we we’re armed with the tool needed to see the winds.
I imagine many of us use PredictWind. The beauty of PredictWind, and I mean literally the beauty, is the colors used in the map display to indicate the various wind speeds. The warmer the colors, the better. We want to sail enveloped by greens, yellows and deep oranges, indicating winds of 10 to 25 knots. Comfortable sailing.
What PredictWind is indicating is in our path is exactly what we don’t like to see - blue of any shade. The blue of the sky, the blue of the sea, the indigo of dead calm - all dead ahead. What a game changer that is. And, apparently, a mood changer.
Captain Bernie becomes a bit of a Captain Bligh when we have to fire up the engine. He simply hates motoring. I know this about him so before we left, we agreed on a speed under which he would agree to motor. That’s when the crew gave him the nickname Two Knot Bernie.
So yesterday morning we entered the blue, with what forecast models predicted could last almost three days. True to his word, on came the Volvo at 0718. Two Knot Bernie slowly morphed into Captain Bligh (really just with me) reminding me again how much he hates motoring, that he doesn’t like consuming fuel unnecessarily, that he prefers hearing the snap of a sail to the grumble of an engine. Yes, if he lets himself, he’ll go into a blue funk, adding his grumbling to that of the engine’s.
For me, the days are pretty much the same routine whether we are snappily sailing or motoring to a symphony of Volvo revolutions. The sun still rises, the moon still sets. Circe still rocks, though moving about her now feels more like a waltz than a polka. Her woodwork still pops in protest. Meals are still prepared, served and eaten. Salt water showers still taken.
My mood doesn’t change but I have to respect that Captain Bernie’s does. So it was no surprise to me when his first words to me this morning were “We’ll have to grab whatever wind we can”. In other words, engine is going off. We still have 760 miles to go.
Maybe the compromise between Captain Bernie and Captain Bligh is motorsailing?
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