Day Five
That photo came from the internet, maybe someday I will see it in the daylight! 😜
Rounding The Mark!
A little after midnight, the boat started sailing so out came the head sail. Time to get around that infamous buoy! It was soooo difficult and frustrating! Without my GPS it never would have been found, not with all those lights on shore; RED lights! Not being able to see and sailing so slowly in the dark was causing LOTS of confusion! Of course it was also a jibe; which can be confusing at night even when you do know where you are going!
Success!! My second milestone! Rounding the mark at 1:10am. Time documented ✅
After rounding that darn thing there was a HUGE sense of relief! There might have been some dancing! 🕺 For SURE, a toast! 🥃 I kept sailing!
Sailing Sideways!
My GPS track of rounding Seneca Shoal looks more like a weird figure eight. During that whole 'rounding' event a strange sensation began that felt as if my boat was sailing sideways! It felt like the boat would not sail in a straight line and was completely off kilter! This could not be explained, especially with feeling fine and having gotten some sleep! Off I sailed... sideways this time! So bizarre. My boat loves me though and at this point it took over, good thing! ⛵
My frustration turned into stress and despite being crazy happy with a successful rounding it was unsettling to 'not be able to go straight'! Just keep going! Using the shoreline on my port side to help me keep oriented, helped, but the 'sideways feeling' remained for the rest of the night!
No Wind
By midmorning on Wednesday, August 16, the wind was dying. Sailing along sideways, I had a little cell reception and called John:
I don't know how to sail the boat any more, it's only goes sideways!
Poor guy he really didn't know what to say. How does one respond to that insanity? Trying to stay on the rumb line, remained my chosen plan. The wind died, another long nap, once again leaving only my main up and sleeping until the boat started sailing again. This was a theme!
Glassy windless water:
On the home stretch now... or so I thought. Upon awaking the sideways sensation was still with me! Maybe being so close to the coastline was causing the disorientation? Heading back out more towards the center of the lake, but still trying to stay out of the shipping lane; the feeling did slowly go away but it took a very long time!
This photo shows me doing some of my fantasy sideways sailing! 😜
Sailing Next To a Thunderstorm
August 17, between 4:00 pm and 7:45pm my sailing was actually in the right direction but not fast; that whole afternoon there was a huge thunderstorm that stayed on land but followed me down the coast. Hearing LOUD thunder and seeing lightening continued the whole afternoon. It was wild, and lasted for hours! Finally, the last bit of the storm came out into the lake, right at me! Down came the main and a quick reef in the foresail.
Not being a person that is overly focused on social media, there was no posting happening; at least not on my part, but learning that my entire marina back home was inquiring about my status changed that. Well a little bit. It was now stretching into the 5th day after all! Did Amy sail away forever? One of my 'marina family' friends was being very persistent and encouraged me to send a selfie (of which I HATE taking 🤦♀️); complying, this was the result, taken approaching the Dunkirk area:
Sailing fast on a reach doing 6 knots, with only the headsail. After you sail at 1 or 2 knots for HOURS, 6 knots seems crazy fast! Finally getting some off wind sailing brought temporary exhilaration! That wonderful beam reach sailing that all the other sailors (and people texted about) reported having! It was my time for some sailing on a reach! Nope, not really. That didn't last long, the lift passed, up goes the main and of course wind on the nose!
Fickle Wind
The wind came and went. Sometime sailing and sometimes floating in a circle. This continued off and on all day. Some friends texted me on my InReach and even commented on my wrong way sailing direction... when you have no wind that's what happens, you might end up sailing backwards. Sailboats CAN sail backwards! 😂 A few of my sailing buddies can attest that, yep it's true!
By 9:40pm that night the boat was racing along at a blazing 1 knot, more sleeping! At this point Dunkirk was disappearing behind the boat. There was lots of resting going on! That evening was absolutely beautiful!
Later on, Duke Mueller on S/V Wrecking Crew (one of the other Solo Challenge race boats) appeared on my bow and we passed. (he was going the other way heading home). We chatted on the VHF. Just a quick discussion about how our lights look at night 🤣, of course these are the things that sailors discuss!