Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

We spent our final day provisioning and performing our final preps for the trip.  In theory our provisioning trip should have replaced the food that we’ve eaten in the last week.  Somehow it was a lot more.  On the way back we dropped Paul off so he could walk the coastal path back.

After lunch we did the boat prep.  That involved strapping the dinghy to the davits, tying the kayak over the davits, setting up the jacklines, inspecting the genset and checking the contents of the ditch bag.

We had a quiet evening, this time obeying my pre-passage rule of no-alcohol so that we’re fully rested for the trip.

Now it’s a matter of waiting.  The forecast says we’ll have northeasterlies until sometime when they’ll shift to northwesterlies.  That’s more or less our cue to go.  There is a radio channel that provides real time wind measurements around the country so we can get a sense of where and when the change is occuring.  Right now, and overnight we’ve had no wind at all.  It could be due to the shelter of the bay.  Won’t know until I tune in.  Although unexpected this will certainly provide us calmer seas than we had expected from earlier forecasts.  This is already showing on the marine forecasts.

Hopefully, our next communication will be while we’re at sea.  Don’t forget our ‘Where are we?‘ page.  I publish our position a few times per day so you’ll get an idea where we are.  I find our ‘Position History‘ from winlink pretty interesting as each point can be clicked to read our speed and course.

Addendum

The key weather feature dictating our start is a front expected to come over the area today.  It will be rainy and unpleasant underneath it with our desired north westerlies tucking in behind.  Projections suggest our departure will be mid-afternoon sometime.

All signs now point to a Friday departure.  A front is passing over us over the next couple of days.  In front of it the winds are just wrong.  Behind it they couldn’t get better.  We’ll have the swell against us for the first day or so but that will turn and follow us by end of Saturday.  Better still, the forecasts coming out each 6 hours are showing a good deal of consistency which brings some degree of confidence that this picture won’t change.

We have therefore made some predeparture plans.  As soon as it gets light I will lower the dinghy, remove the motor, fuel tank and chains then raise it back.  We’ll then go and load up with fuel before heading to a slip we reserved yesterday.  We’ll then have a couple of days on the slip for convenience and prep.  In the comfort of the dock we can fully secure the dinghy for passage and strap the kayak down over the davits.  With a full fuel load we can look at the balance of the boat and rearrange internals if necessary.

This evening we will go to the yacht club for food and drinks.  With a day in hand we can let our hair down.  Paul, our crew, should show up this evening too.

Tomorrow we’ll do our final, final, final, final provisioning and generally rest and relax.  Friday morning we’ll clear, collect our duty frees and depart.

We didn’t do a great deal yesterday.  We made this plan which is progress.  I checked the fishing lures and set up the new with a new lure.  Helen read while I surfed and solved a couple more Euler problems and got stuck on another.

We really can’t wait to go.  It’s getting cold in the mornings and we have to run the generator for warmth.  At least on the dock we can run the electric heater.