When wind direction is wrong: how a 20-degree shift would have changed everything
Even after the squalls passed, the wind remained in the wrong direction for the rest of the passage. Lauren Landers Sailing explains that the forecast had called for wind 20 degrees further to the north, which would have let her sail comfortably on a good angle. Without that shift, she was stuck bashing upwind, hand steering through lighter rain squalls the next day and motor sailing to make progress. The gap between forecast and reality, just 20 degrees, made the difference between a manageable passage and a grueling one.
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What it feels like to transit an atoll for the first time without it being too sketchy
After completing the pass entry, Lauren reflects that the conditions were relatively flat, which made for a good first experience. The key takeaway is that if the waves had been bigger, waiting for them to settle would have been the right c
Slowing down deliberately to time a reef pass arrival correctly
As Lauren Landers Sailing closed within range of the atoll, she reefed her jib intentionally to reduce boat speed. She was on track to arrive too early, and entering a reef pass at the wrong time, before the light is good or the current is
Deciding not to fish offshore when the likely catch would be unmanageably large
Lauren Landers Sailing made a deliberate choice not to fish during this particular offshore passage. Her reasoning was practical: anything she hooked out there would almost certainly be very large, a big tuna for example, and dealing with l