GPS junky

Gone are the days when with a dying wind I could drift, sprawled across the thwarts listening to the lap-splash-gurgle, drinking beer and absorbing the view. Now I am a slave to knots and overall average speeds. There’s no leeway for idling if we’re going to post fast times on the GPS.

With a light wind from the east I went for a sail. After only a short time sailing I decided we were going too slowly to make a decent average overall speed so I started rowing. Soon the wind died to nothing.

Five and a half hours later I’d covered 13 nautical miles at an average speed of 2.3 knots, with a new top speed under oars of 4.8 knots. Moving time 5.34 hours, stopped time 2 minutes.

Luckily I had the sense to take some gardening gloves with me, my hands would not have survived otherwise. Weak-armed and knackered I was in bed by 9 o’clock that evening dreaming of the possibilities that these GPS times open up for cruising.