Jeff's Log ~ Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Close to our day’s destination Ishagaki Island, Japan

Since leaving the anchorage early Monday morning, we have been battling g wind and waves on the nose. We kept a reefed mainsail up for most of the trip, so that the boat could pound into the waves a little better. The second batten pocket began separating from the sail, so we were forced to drive off the wind a bit to keep the sail a little fuller. That added quite a few hours to our trip. Renon doesn’t handle pitching decks and flying water very well, so we were short handed on the watch rotation. That meant four on and four off. None of us have really slept because of the heavy seas. We have all managed an hour here and there.

Our E.T.A. is 8:30PM. It is now 4PM, and I am writing this because it’s still hard to sleep. Tonight we will be snug in a marina, and I can hardly wait. I do love sailing, but motor sailing into headwinds and big waves is not really sailing, it’s part of the power cruising thing. We are getting to the point when there is a schedule to be followed due to people coming and going.

After all of that pounding, there are just a couple of leaks in this submarine. The large port light over the galley is leaking, and the small hatch in Scott’s head is leaking. The hatch routinely gets caught with jib sheets while tacking, so that one doesn’t surprise me. Job security is what I call it! The dodger, which is a heavy canvas structure with plastic windows, certainly did its job the last couple of days keeping the waves out of the cockpit. I wore my full fowl weather suit last night to make sure I stayed warm and dry. It was the first time that it was cool enough outside to wear it, and I sure am glad I had it because a couple of waves came over the dodger. I would have been soaked and cold without it.

The auto-pilot did the steering all night; I just kept adjusting the course as the wind oscillated. The watches feel like they keep getting longer and longer though. Last one of this leg is coming up, and the seas have moderated so no need for fowlies.