We moved onto Itchy Foot in Palma de Mallorca over two years ago, which is roughly 2 degrees east of Greenwich meridian, today we passed 88 degrees west, putting us a quarter of the way around from the world from where we started. There are no plans to get ‘all the way around’ as so to that at Itchy Foot pace would take another 6 to 8 years. But it’s nice to know we’re making progress.
A great days sailing today, plenty of wind and even the direction was OK. We are close hauled on the wind at the moment, which basically means we’re trying to go into the wind, or upwind. What does this mean for life on Itchy Foot? Several things, none of them good!
When going upwind the apparent wind increases, if there is 10 knots of wind when you are standing still, then you run with the wind at 5 knots the end result is that you feel 5 knots on your face. However, if you were to run into the wind at 5 knots you would feel 15 knots on your face. So while there is about 12-15 knots wind today, because we’re sailing upwind it feels like 20 and we need to set sails like it’s 20. The mainsail is made smaller by partially furling some away inside the mast. The fore sail is made smaller by rolling some away around itself at the front.
As we are going upwind and the wind isn’t blowing us where we want to go, we need to use the sails like wings, like an airplane wing to create lift which pulls us sideways. But the boat doesn’t want to go sideways because of the keel under the boat pushing against the water of the sea and resisting. So we are squeezed between the sails wanting to lift us sideways and the boat resisting which in effect, sucks us forward towards the wind. But the lifting force of the sails is up high and the resisting force is under the sea so we tip over and lean, quite a lot.
Today we’ve spent most of the day at about 30 degrees of lean, sometime more as we get knocked by a wave or a gust of wind but mostly 30 degrees. It’s not dangerous, we have 4 tones of leaded at the bottom of the keel which means won’t lean too much, but it does make life onboard… interesting. For example, the toilet is on the left (port) side of the boat facing towards the centre line. We however are leaning to the right, starboard. So yes, we need to hold on tight at all times!
The galley is on the starboard side, so we end up leaning over the stove to cook. Thankfully the galley is very well designed so this isn’t too dangerous but handling hot pots of food requires a certain amount of caution and care when you are days away from a doctor.
Tina is sleeping in the starboard sofa in the saloon so she has a good place to sleep when close hauled, with the heel of the boat holding her firmly in place. Mia, Jon and Teo are in the aft cabin and sleeping sideways across the full width bed. The overall effect is the if feels like you are sleeping standing up at time. Every few ways and gusts you slide a little bit down the bed until your feel touch the wall, or you sleep holding on.
This afternoon the wind started to back around to the south and work it’s way onto our side. We were able to ease the sails a little and the boat sat more upright. Hopefully over the next few days this will continue and over the next week or so we’ll find ourselves heading progressively more and more downwind. With luck the last half of the passage should be a more comfortable downwind sail.
What happened today?
Boat school continues well, despite the challenging conditions. Mia made great inroads into her sowing project for boat bunting. Tina is devouring books at an impressive rate and enjoyed a movie on the sofa with Teo this afternoon. Jon is still cursing at poseidon for lack of fish but hoping his luck will improve as we sail within a few miles of the Galapagos marine reserve – but we’re confident that the fish will know which side of the line to swim on.
Another quiet day on Itchy Foot.
