20 July: Day-42, Total-44; Miles-57, Total-1524
– Chuck
Wind, sand and fine silt were blowing into my tent at 5:30am. The
raging wind outside was driving the dried silt and sand from the surface
of this island under the tent fly and through the net at the doorway.
I zipped the nylon cover over the door and brushed sand and dust off
my gear as best I could. It was on and in everything, I could even feel
grit grinding on my teeth.
Just by luck, the wind was not blowing the sand/silt toward Bill's tent.
About 8:30, Bill said the wind seemed favorable for sailing. We hustled
thru breakfast and soon were on the water. It was an hour or so before
the sailing was good; we hooked up and sailed along with Bill's boat
towing mine. We talked as the miles slipped by but Bill really had to
concentrate on holding a course and always be prepared to spill wind
from the sail if we received a good gust, as we did quite often. He
had to always keep one hand on the rudder and the other on the main
sheet (line to the boom which controls the amount of wind caught in
the sail). So for hours he was unable to get a drink, swat bugs, etc.
Additionally, since his canoe has no cleat to secure the sheet, much
of the thrust from the sail is transmitted, as forward force, to the
canoe through his grip on the line. Anyway, it kept him busy and he
was enjoying every second of it.
I kept busy keeping my canoe aligned behind Bill's. If the trailing
canoe is allowed to swing wide, it will plow through the water as it
is being pulled a bit sideways. Initially, my canoe was constantly oscillating
from side to side. I rigged a bridle under the bow, which pulls low
from both sides, and it eliminated the oscillation. But, wind, waves
and current act a bit differently on my canoe than they do on Bill's
heavier and shorter canoe, so it still required attention to make it
most efficient.
We sailed for hours, even when the wind picked up to more than 20 knots
and waves were breaking over the bow. Bill was in his glory, he has
carried this sailing rig almost 1500 miles, paddled a heavier boat because
it is better for sailing and now he is doing what he had hoped to do
all along. Also, I'm sure he felt satisfaction in helping the "team"
move forward. For almost six weeks he has said that he feels like he
is slowing our progress, but now we are both flying as a result of his
sailing rig. We both loved the exhilaration of it all.
At midnight we found a less than level, gravel shore for a campsite,
we were about a mile short of the village of Grayling. We did at least
57 miles; it was a great day.
Note: It is about 1am as I type this and the light level is so low that
I can barely see the keys and cannot read the screen at all. It is amazing
that the days get so much shorter each day. This is due to both the
growing number of days since the solstice and our southerly movement,
hence a daily decreasing latitude. It is now nearly dark between about
1am and 2:30am.