...and, wouldn't you know, now that the race to New York was terminated due to a lack of winds, we've now got 30 kts pushing us along. We can only motor at 7-8 kts in the best of conditions so we've shut the engine down and resumed sailing, cruising along now at 10-12 kts under an widely eased out main and poled-out headsail. Ah...I see here in the Nav Station where I'm writing that we just hit 18 kts surfing down a wave. I felt it first and looked up at the guages to see that speed.
If we keep this up much longer, our ETA to New York will be moved up from Monday morning to Sunday night.
Sailing in this configuration is called 'wing and wing' or 'goose winged.' Picture a book open in front of you. Our mainsail is the right page and our headsail is the left page, held out in that unnatural manner by a spinnaker pole. It's great fun and, in this crisp spring air, drenched in bright but not hot sunlight, all of us are remarking that this is some of the most enjoyable sailing we've had the chance to do in quite a while.
With the main so far out, however, the potential for disaster is great. If a disoriented helmsman lets the wind get behind the main, it could possibly snap the preventer (a heavy line running from the bow to the end of the boom to stabilize the extended boom) and cause the boom to forcefully swing from fully right to fully left of the boat, possibly taking with it some vital rigging (such as our running backstays).
For that reason, we're cautious about letting any crew who just joined this leg take the helm. When I handed the helm over to a "legger" earlier today, he was allowed on only because the skipper came up to sit right beside him to coach him though his first session of sailing with this configuration, ready to leap in to grab the wheel before anything too severe could take place.
