Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada
Departure toward Boston is postponed till tomorrow’s dawn’s early light.
The formula for establishing the actual calendar days required for a transit between distant ports has proven to be durable throughout PRIDE’s thirty-seven sailing years. That formula is the distance between ports divided by 110 nautical miles to arrive at “Transit Days”. Any result greater than 0.29 of a day, becomes the next nearest whole day. Another “Calendar Day” is added to account for the unused (not actually underway) parts of departure day and arrival day.
Of course, there is the cautionary “weather permitting” aspect during actual transits between ports. Notwithstanding this cautionary advisory, I think there are less than a half dozen times over nearly four decades PRIDE has arrived later than promised. And, the formula has kept PRIDE sailing more than 60% of the totality of her voyaging.
PRIDE has arrived ahead of schedule. Always a benefit, within reason. Arriving early can create a quandary regarding actually adjusting the original public relations arrival plans. Sometimes it is best not to arrive early. Options include anchoring nearby, or heaving-to in the area, or continuing to sail around. Sometimes arriving early is acceptable. However, because arrivals are often meant to be dramatic, with “grand stand sailing” for the purpose of local media broadcasting to their local public the “dramatic” arrival of PRIDE, it is not usual to find media acceptance for a last-minute change to an early arrival. So, a lot of speculating time goes on in the skipper’s mind about dawdling options whenever sailing ahead of the calendar.
Delaying departure is less consequential to local interests. And we purposefully preserve departure day timing as “at the discretion” of the Captain. Sometimes it takes a while to ready the ship for sea. Sometimes, as is the case today, it is of no value to ship and persons aboard to bash PRIDE into a two-meter sea (7 feet) and motor her dense rigging plan against a twenty knot wind. Especially given waiting till the next morning looks like there will be light winds and slight seas. Today’s 20 knot headwinds are forecast to end around midnight tonight. Thus, it is expected seas ought to die down significantly between the middle of tonight and seven hours later.
Meanwhile, favorable winds of moderate strength for crossing the Gulf of Maine are not expected to be present until Tuesday. Hence, it appears to additionally make sense to wait for tomorrow’s light and slight conditions forecast for Nova Scotia’s Southwestern Shore. Given, after motor 100 nautical miles to and past Cape Sable at the southwest end of Nova Scotia, arriving around early Tuesday, ought to find those fair and moderate strength winds. And actually start sailing towards Boston.
