September 2, 2013 Happy September Everyone! In response to the anxiety expressed by many about bad weather and storms at sea, I have decided to make this the topic of my news update. Not getting your behind kicked at sea is actually quite simple. This is what you do. Rule #1: Don’t be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like the hurricane season here in the USA that you are so familiar with, most places around the globe have their predictable storm season. This can be generalized by saying that everywhere in the northern hemisphere has a similar schedule to our hurricane season and everywhere in the southern hemisphere has a schedule that is six months later. To cut your risk of having to weather a very bad storm at sea to nearly zero, simply know the storm seasons where you are going and don’t be caught in that neck of the woods, so to speak, during these high risk times. Rule #2: If you do get caught in bad weather at sea, have a plan that goes a little further than your devout faith in the Almighty. My plan will be to deploy a parachute-type sea anchor on a very long rode with some special rigging to smooth out the ride and avoid chafe while hove-to under a triple reefed mainsail. It’s that easy. To “heave-to” is a simple way of setting the sails and rudder so that the boat stabilizes at an angle to the seas and is essentially “parked.” So getting back to the business about being at the right place at the right time, I have decided to delay my departure from St. Louis, Missouri, until early January. This will do a couple of good things. First of all, it will allow me to blow right through Panama without getting hung-up waiting for the storm season to end before I can head for the Marquesas Islands in the eastern Pacific. This later departure will also allow me more time to prepare food stores, charts, etc. for the voyage. The downside is that it might make for a bitter endurance feat as I begin my trip – this shouldn’t be a big problem, though, as it will be warming up quite nicely with each day I get further south down the Mighty Mississip. Now throw that pipe out the window and tell me about your dreams! All the best, Brian
Posted on: Mon, 02 Sep 2013 17:21:12 +0000
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