Wednesdays’s cruises were again typical summer day weather. The winds were light from the south and southeast. We had some offshore swell coming from the east. These waves were about 1-2 feet. This only affected us on our turns about once per hour. This was an easy motion for about 2-3 minutes as we completed our turns.
Thursday’s cruises will be the same. Winds will be southeast at less than 10 kts. There still may be some residual seas form the east but will have little affect on our ride.
Nautical Terms: “Sea” and ” Swell”: These are both terms that describe waves on the ocean. When we describe the “sea” waves, these are the waves created by the local wind conditions. These are easy to describe and account for in the “ride” of the vessel. They are created by the local wind and are very predicable in their direction and their height. “Swell” are the waves created by distant weather systems….they could be coming from hundreds or even a thousand miles away depending on the size, strength and longevity of the system creating them. There can be several of these “wave sets” coming into your area at any one time. This usually happens in the winter months when there are numerous active storm systems off in the mid-Atlantic.
These are hard to predict as the only accurate way to check them is to get out there and look……of course here in our operational area (Captains Cove) we are protected from most of this by our natural reefs…..
Come sail with us,
Capt Tim
