Waves

July 21, 2013

The news from the crew is frustration. Even the tracker looks frustrated and confused by their lack of  progress towards the Channel. I got a short message from Alex this morning with a request for Alan to send them current weather predictions:

Britain is pushing us back. 4 days fighting 20kts from our destination. Wind is OK but the seas are quite big and push  us back making progress to windward very difficult. Can't motor against these seas.

On the bright side, we expect a wind change today that will allow us to sail or motor East. We hope to make Brighton on Wednesday depending on conditions.

For all you sailors out there, here is the weather forecast Alan sent back to the crew:

PassageWeather.com looks promising!
British Isles
Where you are at 50 N, 10W
decreasing to 15 knts by 1200 then lighter to 10 knts from ESE by 1500.  By 2100, wind South at 5 knts, after midnight wind 5 knots from SW.
Unfortunately wave height remains 2 - 3 Ft against you till at lease 1800.

English Channel section
Sunday 0600: 20 Knts East moderating to 15 knts ESE by 1500, Wind drops further to 10 knts and shifts to SE by 1800 near mouth of channel, still easterly further up channel
Monday 0000 wind 5 knots or less from South at mouth, light and variable Portland to Solent

And this from David via Tricia this morning:

Even bigger seas and wind now. Hopefully decrease later. Met a french racing boat today. They wanted us to pass on a message which we did. They were in a race and late, they wanted to let their families know all is okay.

Brighton is still a long way away.

So while Nani and crew are not loving the high seas and wind, Eric is loving the windy days and the waves here on Lake Erie.