Gone with the wind
A frontal system arrived during the early evening and was accompanied by some very strong and particularly gusty winds. I’d gone to sleep relatively early but awoke around midnight as Zanshin jerked back and forth at anchor in the strong winds. I’d tied down my solar panels earlier, otherwise they surely would have gone walkabout.
I did see some lights and action on a boat downwind of me, I believe they were dragging anchor. But that seemed to get itself sorted out and my upwind neighbour didn’t seem to be getting any close; so I went back below and tried to sleep.
Deep sleep eluded me, I woke up several times and went topsides to check out the anchorage and sound of the wind howling through the rigging also precluded a restful night of slumber.
Morning
I think today was a record for me in my home-office. I think I had 5 hours of my workday filled with videoconferences both scheduled and ad-hoc. I was getting a bit hoarse towards the end of the day. And somehow despite all the discussions and talking and negotiations I felt like I’d not made the progress that I expected for all that effort.
Noon
The winds are settling down a bit now, but the skies are overcast, and the solar system isn’t quite going to fill up the battery bank. Despite some promising moments earlier in the day before the stratus layer moved over us.
Evening
I looked at the weather forecast models for tonight and they all show strengthening winds and gusts of over 30 knots. So I’ve just pulled a ribeye steak from the freezer and vacuum-sealed it; then placed it into the sous-vide cooker in preparation for my first on-board steak of the season. If the winds are too strong in 2 hours for the BBQ to deal with, I’ll use my stovetop and cast-iron pan to give it the sear that it deserves.
It is 5pm and the clouds are preventing the solar panels from finishing the final 10Ah of charge to fill the bank. The sous-vide heater is doing a good job of draining more than the panels are producing. Nonetheless the system is performing to my satisfaction.
I just let out about 20 feet more chain. I have enough anchor chain out, but there’s no boat directly behind me and should the wind shift and point my stern towards the sunken dry-dock the extra 20 feet will still allow sufficient separation. And that give me a bit of room should my upwind neighbour decide to lengthen chain as well.
Dinner
I had to hold myself and a towel in front of the BBQ so that the internal temperature could go high enough to sear the steak; the wind was so strong that it cooled the whole thing down faster than the flames inside could heat it! But I got a sear and had a steak with some sauce and rice. As always, the sous-vide guaranteed perfect doneness.
