Under sail, at the dock

Puget sound lies in a North-South direction, defined by the Cascade mountains to the East and the Olympic mountains to the West.  This means that pretty much all the time, when there is wind, it is either out of the North or out of the South.

But not for the last 24 hours.  We have seen winds above 30 kt (gusts over 40 kt) since yesterday afternoon... out of the West!  Our slip lies North-South, so we have had the wind on our beam for all that time.  As strong as it has been, we have been heeled at 5° - 10° - caused by only the wind pressure on the masts.  It has been as if we have been under sail all nite long!

Do not get me wrong here - I am very thankful that the wind is out of the West when it is this strong - this means that it is holding us off the dock.  Eolian has been riding well - there is no sound of fenders grinding between the hull and the dock, although they do bang once in a while as the wind lifts them and then lets them fall.  They're pretty stiff  - actually they are hard lumps - because the temp out there is 19°.

The heat pump hasn't been able to keep up with temps this low (and I'm sure the wind hasn't been helping either), so I have lit the Dickenson.  It's cheery flame has been keeping me toasty warm down below.  And given that Seattle is basically closed today (even UW has suspended operations), I'll just stay here.

I think I'll bake some corn bread...

Under sail, at the dock