Day Four

Photo above: just after morning twilight, somewhere past Longs Point.

Fishing Net! 😝

Still in the dark of night. In the wee hours of Tuesday morning while trimming in my headsail on the starboard side and looking down at the winch, something white popped into my peripheral vision, it was so close it FREAKED me out. Seeing something bright white in the dark night was startling, and for a second I thought it was a person! This sent me flying uncontrollably across the cockpit! Get away from that thing!

The pondering started as I came to a rest on the port side happy to still be IN the boat! It was so close to the winch; could have grabbed it! Instantaneous fear, realizing what it was! A fishing net! Wondering if it would get caught on the boat somehow I froze. In the dark, still in lots of wind, and still in big waves; I could not imagine having to go in the water and cut a net off! 🤦‍♀️

Little S/V Eloxy sailed right over it unscathed! It was just SO close! Having sailed close to many fishing nets over the years, this seemed different! Yikes, glad to leave that behind!

Series Of Photos

Enjoying some luck and wind; and not getting caught up in the 'whole no wind thing' since experiencing it trying to get Pelee Passage was wonderful! Recalling that day; the was sailing was idyllic!

More photos from that day:

7:59am on 8-16 sailing well and my tacks are evident from going North to escape the heavy wind and waves; then perfectly on line towards Buffalo!

8:15am, love this photo ~ showing New York and Pennsylvania lines coming together. Really getting somewhere... well, for a while!

Buffalo On The Horizon!

In the afternoon, headed towards Buffalo the wind started coming right on the nose, more tacking.

3:15pm Tacking back and forth towards the mark, wishing the wind would shift in my favor; ahh but no!

Sailing Fast Towards Seneca Shoal!

Closing in on Seneca Shoal; was exciting and the boat was sailing fast! In fact, the lift from a weather system, at one point caused some concern. At 7:00pm, rounding Seneca Shoal in the daylight seemed possible! YAY! At this point there was some cell service and some 'pink' popped up on the radar... not what I wanted to see when making my approach. Except it was helping with speed...

I communicated with another solo sailor; Jim Otton, (whom often sails in these Solo Challenges) and sails on S/V WAFI about the approaching thunderstorm. It seemed to be really building so I made a tack to the north and reefed the headsail. Although the sky looked dark and ominous, it was a false alarm, but did result in some really fast sailing! This too was short lived.

Nearing the mark, the wind TOTALLY died; my boat went from 6 knots to not moving, not moving at all, just sitting there! What the heck just happened? What happened to rounding in the daylight?

Frustration set it! Rounding the mark would now be in the dark. 😒 Uggg! I was dreading that, especially after hearing, and reading all of the sailors stories about how that mark is 'so hard to find' at night, and with what looked like a million red lights on shore, it surely would not be easy! Red lights, red buoy, dark night, strange unfamiliar place meant it would be a navigational rounding. No visual with my own eyes! More floating. At least there was time to think and maybe sneak in a short nap.

Fireworks?

On late Tuesday evening during my latest floating session, out of nowhere there was this giant fireworks display. On shore, and directly in front of my boat! This was entertaining to watch, and distracted me from stressing about still needing to get around that mark! I texted a few people with my InReach and mentioned my fantastical fireworks display, and a few thought there was some hallucinating going on! People that sail for long periods of time without adequate sleep turn into weirdos you know! t really did happen. After fireworks, a three hour nap. I left the main up and woke up when the boat started slowly sailing.