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Birdless

 It’s been pretty breezy since yesterday, with gusts over 30 knots and waves coming over the back of the boat into the cockpit. My socks got wet which was annoying.

There are some very impressive waves, but it’s impossible to take a photo of a wave because they always look four times smaller in a photograph. You end up with a picture that makes it look like you’re sailing on a slightly choppy lake.



The weather has impacted our arrival time into Mackay Q berth for clearance with ABF, and it’s now looking like Saturday evening around 7pm, so I have no idea if ABF will clear us then. I suspect we will have to wait until the following day.

I had been expecting over 10 birds to turn up, and around sunset they started flying around the boat, no doubt eyeing up a spot to land while looking for a snack before they turned in for the night.

And then they all disappeared.

We didn’t have any birds.

I was pleased about this.

We have had to reef the headsail very heavily as the wind is almost directly behind us. As we get pushed forwards by the waves, the boat is pushed up to weather and we start to round up, with the autopilot trying its hardest to compensate.

The heavy reef helps keep the bow pointing downwind and is reducing the autopilot off-course alarms. If the swell keeps pushing us around, I’m going to start one of the engines and see if it helps the autopilot steer better.

It’s not exactly the most obvious use of an engine, but if it keeps the boat pointing in the right direction rather than trying to climb the back of every wave, I’ll take it.

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