Lowestoft harbour
9.00 Breakfast
10.00 Skipper’s briefing:
Skipper Carsten Hvid is back on the Sea Stallion again.
The weather forecast is for north-westerly gales in the southern part of the North Sea, but they will drop during the night. A light breeze from the west is expected tomorrow, Tuesday, turning east in the course of Wednesday. According to the weather forecast, the wind will remain easterly until Sunday.
We are considering the possibility of sailing to Den Helder in the Netherlands, a distance of 120 nautical miles, and then sailing north in the easterly wind promised. In a breeze light to calm, and possibly a large swell from the north-westerly gale, we cannot expect to make more than 3 knots, and then it would take us in the best case 40 hours to reach Den Helder, and there is the risk that we would not reach Den Helder before the wind turns.
On the other hand, we are poorly placed in Lowestoft for a course towards Denmark with an easterly wind.
We are keeping a constant eye on the development of the weather and we will tell the crew at the evening meal whether we sail tonight or remain in Lowestoft until we have a good wind.
From Lowestoft there are 360 nautical miles to Thyborøn, and with an average speed of 5 knots that will take us 72 hours. If we choose to cross against the easterly, we can sail a maximum of 2 knots against the wind. Then the trip will take 7-8 days. Choosing to cruise such a long distance would be exhausting for the crew, and there would be a problem in finding enough room for sufficient provisions and water. So we won’t be doing that.
The crew should stand by for information at the evening meal about a possible departure.
18.00 Evening meal
The foreship has the anchor watch.