Gulf of California, 34nm E of Los Frailes, Baja California Sur
About five hours left to go and all is well aboard Intermezzo. We're motor sailing in moderate rocking seas, the jib close-hauled for a 10 knot wind off the starboard bow.
Last night was not as the weather forecasts led me to believe it would be. Nothing new. All the wind models had maximum predicted wind along our route of 12 knots. It blew over 18 for over an hour. All the wave models predicted 4 foot swell from the south at a comfortable period of over 12 seconds. Swells were 3 feet from the north at an uncomfortable period of less than 6 seconds. Even after the winds dropped around 22:00, it remained a bouncy ride until after sunrise. The seas are only now smoothing out.
The good news is that there was virtually no traffic the whole way. One fishing boat that got within two miles and a couple of ships way off in the distance. With my radar and AIS proximity alarms set, I was able to grab sleep in 30 minute snatches. I'd set the timer on my watch and get up, take a look around, reset the timer and resume sleeping. My watch vibrates when the timer goes off, a great feature for sailing. I stream the radar display to my iPad which sits right in front of me in the cabin. I can open one eye to make sure the boat is on course and there aren't any other boats to worry about.
I'm feeling fairly rested, but also that mussed, greasy, traveled feeling like after a redeye flight or an "all-nighter" studying at college (wow, that was a long time ago.) We should arrive at Los Frailes around 13:00 and I look forward to jumping into the water for a swim and then a nice hot shower.
