You've heard the phrase before; I've used it often when describing when and why we have to leave somewhere. It's about getting to where you hope to go, in the safest and most comfortable way. Yes, a gentle breeze from the quarter (just enough to move the boat quietly through the swells at somewhere around 6 knots)... would do nicely. Oh, and no fishing nets, trap lines, or hidden bits of hard rocky stuff would also be lovely. And, please, let there be safe and protected anchorages every so often along the route just in case the weather Gods change their minds and decide to play the Devil. Yes, wouldn't that be fantastic. But, I'm afraid if it was that easy the anchorages would be so full there'd be no room left.
OK, back to 'weather windows'. We have one... we think. They're cagey fellows, popping up on your screen and then morphing into something completely different before your eyes. The important weather for us now is the predictions of weather to be expected when going around Cape Corrientes. This will be a bit of a tough leg for us as northbound, up the coast, is usually more challenging than the southbound (downhill) leg. And so we wait and watch and compare forecasts (there are many). We interview friends with experience and folks who live for predicting weather. We chew our fingernails a bit, debate the pros and cons, voice our regrets Kathy may have to spend her 60th birthday battling oncoming seas at the Cape in the middle of the night. And then we cheer ourselves up with thoughts of a wonderful birthday dinner at the PV Yacht Club restaurant where we will tell tales of our sailing prowess and give thanks for having succeeded in besting Corrientes.
And, so my friends, this is a long winded way of telling you we think we have a window that will get us around Corrientes safely, if we leave early tomorrow morning. We'll slip at 0600 and either go for it (heading for the Cape and around it - about 24-29 hrs straight) or we'll decide to pull into Chamela, 30 NMs up the coast and wait to round the Cape on Saturday.
As always, I promise we will make the best and safest decisions... we always do. And, of course these plans, like all the others, are written in sand and subject to change at any time. We'll be in touch as and when we can and, as always, no news is good news.
We hope all is well with each of you and your days are getting brighter and longer.
Adios for now... CJ and K
Posted by: Carolyn (via Kathy's Google mail profile)
