On watch, off watch

The wind has been teasing us, blowing a steady 6-8kts when we need at least 9-12 to go sailing. Occasionally it puffs up and we give sailing a try, but then it fades away and we have to start the motor again. We got in a few hours of nice sailing, but mostly we're motoring. We're not actually in the high yet. There is a ridge running SW to NE from the high and we're chasing the high up the ridge. We move 30 miles and it moves 25 miles. But the forecast is that it will both stop moving and weaken a bit, at which time we'll overtake it and then soon thereafter we'll pop out into the cold winds and currents from the north.

We're almost through with our "northing". As of 1am our latitude is about the same as Santa Cruz, we're just 1,000 nautical miles to the west. We'll probably get as far north as Ft. Bragg or Mendocino, before we turn directly to San Francisco.

For readers who are not sailors, a brief explanation of nautical miles. A nautical mile is 1 minute of latitude (60 minutes in a degree) so the circumference of the planet is 360x60 = 21,600nm. And 1 nm = 1.15 statute miles. So 1,000nm is 1,150 nautical miles and when we're sailing at 8kts, we're actually going 9.2mph - wow, feel the speed! About the same speed as a really slow cyclist, but we don't have to peddle.

So back to on watch, off watch. That's life onboard New Morning. Obsessed with weather and either on watch or off watch. I get a little outside news via email, but we're generally focused right here and now, oblivious to the mayhem in the middle east, latest Obama/Romney accusations (what happened to solutions?), or even the iPhone 5 announcement (they did, didn't they?). Here is my daily cycle of watches.

7am - noon. If all went well I was sound asleep and Paul woke me about 6:45. It's just after sunrise and I get an update from Paul on what transpired during his watch, then orient myself to the current sailing / weather conditions and sail configuration. Paul heads off to sleep and I'm alone. I spend a half hour or so in the cockpit getting fully acclimated. About 7:45 I start up the computer for some email. I send a position report (what you see on "Where's New Morning"), and then I request, and then receive, one or more weather forecasts. I review the weather and what it means to our routing (where to point the boat) and anticipated sailing conditions. But of course it's a forecast, our mileage can and does vary! Somewhere in there I make an 8am entry in the log book and I pop my head up a few times to check the radar and look around to make sure all is well in the ocean and with the sails. By 8:30 or 9:00 I'm finished and back in the cockpit. About 9:30 - 10:00 I prepare some breakfast, eat it in the cockpit and then wash my dishes (conditions permitting). Another log entry at 10:00. Then about an hour or hour and a half of sitting in the cockpit, sailing and hopefully enjoying the morning (or maybe just weaving through squalls). By 11:30 I'm anticipating waking up Paul so that I can go off watch at noon. I wake up Paul about 11:45, update him on the weather, routing, sailing conditions, systems status and any trivia which may fall out of my head that I feel compelled to communicate. I make the noon log entry and calculate our noon-to-noon distance traveled. I may linger past 12:30 to chat for awhile, but probably head off to sleep.

Sometimes I get up mid afternoon during my "off watch" and eat some lunch, or take a shower, or have an early dinner or sit in the cockpit and chat with Paul.

5pm - 9pm This is the sunset watch. Depending on my hunger, what I ate in the afternoon and the sailing conditions I may have dinner sometime during this watch; usually two out of three nights. I might listen to music or the audio version of the Economist if conditions are benign. I may write some email, then make another position report and log entry at 8pm. I put on some warmer clothes as the sun goes down and anticipate waking Paul so I can go back to sleep. I wake Paul at 8:45, update him on what transpired during my watch and I'm in my bunk by 9:15.

Midnight - 3am Paul wakes me about 11:45 and I reluctantly put on some warmer clothes and get myself into the cockpit. I get the update and Paul heads off to sleep. I use this watch to write the blog entry (like this!) and reply to any email that came in during the sunset watch. This helps keep me awake, assuming I don't have to make half a dozen sail changes which definitely keeps me awake. I make the 2am log entry and then listen to a few Fresh Air podcasts to keep me awake until 2:45 when I can wake Paul. Paul is up on deck by 3am and I'm back in the rack by 3:15.

And round and round we go. When the conditions are rough there is little or no recreational activity as everything is focused on sailing and coping with the weather.

So life is simple. On watch = sailing. Off watch = sleeping (or attempting to do so if conditions are rough). On watch, off watch. On watch, off watch...