Bon Voyage

Good morning from the good ship Gryphon.  I seem to have had a fast first night given that a catamaran who was 2 miles ahead of me is now 6 miles behind.  The view as I ascended the companionway this morning was fantastic with the grey-blue of the ocean, a light blue sky and the orange of the sun not yet over the horizon.  The vastness is humbling. 

The one eventful thing during the night was that my wind vane came untied from the steering wheel.  When this occurred the boat headed up slightly and the sails began to flog.  Part of the art of steering with the wind vane is to have the sails balanced so that the forces on the sails keep the boat in a straight line without much rudder correction.  It was because I had tried to achieve such balance that the boat only headed up 30 degrees and luffed.  She did not tack.  It was a bit cold when I went up to address that issue so I took the short cut and just switched to electronic wind vane (the autopilot steers to a wind direction rather than a compass heading).  I did not go on deck to clean up the lines and this morning from the bathroom window I noticed that the jib sheet was wrapped around a mooring cleat.  

I also have noticed that I tied my second and third reefing lines too far forward on the boom.  I will need to retie those when the boom is closer inboard. The problem is that when I go to put in one of those reefs I will not be able to get the sail flat because I will not be pulling effectively on the clew (the aft corner). Having the sail flat depowers the sail which is the point of reefing. It is not a big fix but I need the boom trimmed closer inboard  I have been on a deep reach all night but the wind is veering (moving clockwise) so I have brought the boom in closer already.

I have made radio contact with Zipporrah this morning.  I have not heard from Yeah Baby since a text at 0115. Currently 48.5nm to my Gulf Stream entry point which is 35° 30’N, 74° 20’W. Making 7-8 kts. Arriving at that waypoint by 1500 Atlantic time would be ideal per our weather router.