Tinkerbelle – interior cabin view.
Logbook of Tinkerbelle – Part 8
Monday, July 19
Got a long sleep last night to make up for no sleep the night before. So I’m getting a late start.
Must get going now. It’s cloudy, but the sun peeks through now and then. The barometer is holding at 30.9.
Tuesday, July 20
(passed 30º W)
Sun peeked out as it rose above the horizon, but now it’s clouding up again. Oh, well, just so the breeze is good and usable. It’s from the north now, as it was most of yesterday. Barometer still at 30.9.
Hope to get into W20s today. But if it stays cloudy I won’t be able to tell where I am.
Got to the W20s about 4 p.m. ship time. The run from W40 to W30 is the best so far — only 9 days. Hope I do as well going from W30 to W20.
It’s blowing up quite a bit tonight. Hope it doesn’t/t get so bad I have to leave the comfort of the cabin.
Wind changed to west about 4 p.m. today. So I ran before it from then until I stopped for the night at 7 p.m. (ship time), Saw a new kind of bird yesterday. Gull-like.
Wednesday, July 21
Tanker went by fairly close this morning but apparently didn’t see me. Morning shot put me about half way to W29. Goody! Now to get going.
We were becalmed for several hours in the afternoon. I took the opportunity to take movies of me eating the half-way mark plum pudding. It was tasty and I hope the movies are OK.
Three more ships appeared, two of them at the same time. Made the spot seem like Times Square. One ship came straight for me full tilt. I was beginning to consider jumping over the side and swimming for it when it swerved to the side and passed about 50 yards off to port It was a Russian ship – Shov Neptun.
I didn’t see a soul on deck. But as the ship passed the captain or someone else came out on the bridge and looked me over with binoculars.
Since there were so many ships about I decided to sail through the night to see if there were more and to avoid being run down. But I didn’t see another ship all night.
It was the wildest sail I’ve had. The wind increased until it must have been blowing a gale. I reefed the main sail and then dropped it altogether later and continued under jib (genoa) alone. Finally, even that was too hectic and I hove to and took a short nap.
All this happened after the barometer had gone down 1/10 of a point. There was intermittent rain during the night. It was so dark the phosphorescence show in the water was easily seen. I happened to look back at the glowing wake and saw streaks coming up to the boat from astern. I suppose these were made by some variety of fish coming up to look me over. I wondered if they were sharks. Gave me a strange feeling..
Thursday, July 22
Morning sun shot showed we are near W28. Making progress. But it’s still blowing too hard for me to go on. I’ll have to sit tight until the wind settles down a bit. The sun is out now and then, and that’s a break. Waves are pretty big. Sure is nice to be snug in Tink’s cabin.
The wind and waves continued all day so I relaxed, did a few maintenance jobs on Tink and listened to the radio — Voice of America, Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, BBC, Portugal (Lisbon), and “The Happy Station” in Holland.
I turned in early and got a good long sleep.
Friday, July 23
Awoke before sunrise and had a good breakfast of coffee and three cereal bars. The waves seem to be down a little, although not much. Anyway, we’ve got to get going. We’re already a day behind schedule. I think I’ll continue all night to catch up, if I can. My goal is Falmouth by Aug. 15. Well, now up and at ’em.
We didn’t continue all night because the waves were too big. We’ll go on some other night when conditions are better. The wind was 25-30 m.p.h. most of the day and the waves were the biggest we’ve seen so far. Several were 20 footers, I’m sure. It was very wet sailing and I’m soaked from the waist down. Just have to make the best of it.
The weather was cloudy, but with intermittent breaks in the clouds through which the sun poked now and then. There were scattered rain squalls too. I managed to maneuver between two of them, to miss most of their rain. Toward evening we sailed out of the cloudy area. It was wonderful to see blue sky.
Evening sun shot put us near W27. Then I had a nice curry dinner. Now the dishes are washed, etc., and I’m snuggled under my blanket for the night. I notice, though, that it’s getting cloudy again.
Barometer seems to be holding at 30.7. Hope the wind and waves are down tomorrow. Now to sleep.
Saturday, July 24
Well, the wind and waves seem to be down, at last. That’s good. But the wind seems to have shifted toward the east. That’s bad. Anyway, the sun is shining now, although there are lots of clouds on the horizon. I got up at sunrise. Barometer is holding steady. Thank goodness.
It was sunny almost all day, with a sky full of fluffy cotton-ball clouds. Wind started out just the right force, but in late afternoon got so strong I had to drop the already-reefed main sail. Went on under genoa alone.
Evening sun shot put me near W26, but I’ve got to get up to N46.30 by the time I get to W25, which I hope will be tomorrow. I think I’m parked tonight right on the shipping lane. Saw a ship just before turning in. I hope they’re able to see my anchor light.
Sunday, July 25
Overslept just a bit this morning. Didn’t hear the alarm. It’s now 8 a.m. ship time. The wind and waves seem OK for sailing, but it’s a dismal cloudy day. Barometer’s up though.
The weather sure has done a switch. Wind was very light all day. I have probably just kept pace with the southwest current. Probably, I’m in the same place I started from. Sun shots indicate little progress north, although I have moved east and am not too far from W25. We’ll keep on all night.
Just before sunset the dark clouds moved away to the southeast and the sun and sky came into view. Hope it’s clear all night. It was interesting to watch the clear, sunny spot drawing nearer and nearer in the late afternoon.
Was visited briefly by a few dolphins. They swam about the boat for about 30 seconds and then were off. It was over so quickly I couldn’t get my movies. Darn it! Well, on we go.
Oh, I should mention, too, that a ship, tanker, passed to port on the horizon during the afternoon. Seemed to be headed for the English Channel.
Soon after it cleared, the wind died out for a bit, then shifted to the west for about an hour, still very light. Then it shifted to southwest, closer to south than west, and picked up in force. The sky stayed clear most of the night and it was very pleasant sailing. The wind was just right, strong enough to move at a good rate, but not so strong as to make me nervous. I spent almost all night listening to the BBC. Discussion of acting by Noel Coward, a very nice essay (with sound effects) on the seasons in Britain, news, music and commentaries.
Suddenly, during the night, I saw a streak of phosphorescence racing toward me like the wake of a torpedo. Wow! It came from the port beam. I knew it couldn’t be a torpedo, but I braced myself for the impact anyway. There wasn’t any. And then it arrived on the starboard side. A dolphin. I guess the streaks two or so nights ago were dolphins, too. The dolphins, as always, didn’t stay long. They gave me a swift look-over and then were off.
