Trying to stay positive – not easy to take any positives from today. It has been miserable. The N’ly wind started to increase around nine this morning and has blown hard all day, a gale warning is in force. Truce and I are in our own little orbit, swinging in circles around a 45-pound CQR anchor.
In addition to wind we have had constant low overcast cloud, drizzle and not one ray of sunshine. The most power I have seen coming from the solar panels to the batteries is half an amp. Oh yes, it’s cold as well.
Days like this (thankfully few) are difficult, it’s not easy to get motivated to do anything as its too cold and miserable outside.
Yesterday the barometer rose eight millibars, today I watched if fall eight millibars, back into low pressure territory. The weather forecast is a constant stream of front, ridge, trough, front – at quite amazing speed. Wind changing from north to south daily, thirty knots being the new normal now.
To be positive, last night was nice and calm, I had a good sleep. The anchorage is quite well protected from the N’ly wind, just subject to wind gusts and a bit of sea sneaking around the point, causing a bit of a roll, nothing uncomfortable. A hectors dolphin has been around the bay this afternoon, just one by itself. Apart from that not much wildlife about.
On boring inactive days like these thoughts turn to food. Today I have consumed numerous cups of tea, cuppa soup, coffee, ginger nuts, noodles and other tit bits. Usually when I am sailing, I lose weight. Not in a bad way, just that eating becomes less important and I only eat when hungry, so any excess body weight just burns away. This trip I have remained plump, lots of time for eating and snacking when waiting on weather.
I am not sure when I will be able to move from here. I need a nice couple of days of southerly wind, fifteen knots SW or SE would be perfect. E’ly or W’ly wind would also be fine, just nothing from the North or above 25 knots to be comfortable. At the moment all I can get is thirty knots S’ly for twelve hours before it turns N’ly again.
I must be patient; the weather will change one day. Then all this waiting around will be forgotten. The only plan I have is to get to the top of the South Island or the bottom of the North Island and then see where I can go from there.
In the meantime, I have about a quarter of the series ‘Breaking Bad’ to watch, a whole bunch of movies, some good books, plenty of music and a well-stocked bond locker.
The Adventures of Captain Ray Penson 
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