Log of the Black Lady: 24-33 Spring 512 (Solo)

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Timestamp: 24-33 Spring 512 Northern Suvan OOC : This thread is a solo training thread written in the form of log entries made by Daske as he makes the voyage. It's probably best to imagine him writing up each day's log entry at the end of that day. Day 1 I left Oyster Island early this morning. Sable was much opposed to me making the trip alone, but she gave up when she saw that I was determined. The wind was steady at 10 knots from the Northwest. Clear skies overhead. Dark clouds moving in from the West. I figured I'd get rain before the day was out and I was right. It was a long day beating into the wind with the boat heeled twenty degrees to starboard the whole way. By the end of the day my lower back was pretty sore from the beating it took from leaning against the starboard gunnel. The morning wasn't so bad but by afternoon the wind had picked up and was tossing white-capped waves in the Black Lady's path and sometimes into the cockpit. This made for a pretty bumpy ride that had become downright jarring by the time I decided to call it a night and anchor in a little cove. The cove isn't very protected so I double-anchored. I cooked up some stew in a pot, which turned out to be a bit of a trick because the boat continued bouncing around on its anchor, tossing around anything that wasn't tied down. I tried to work on my map, but there was too much motion. It was going to be a long trip. 2700 miles to Syliras. I figured it would take about three weeks if everything went well. Day one, and I was already beginning to regret doing this trip solo. OOC : You can see the Black Lady here.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 2 Sometime during the night the wind and waves must have settled down because I finally fell asleep. I woke to the sound of rain pummeling the cabin top. I poked my head out and looked around. It was overcast and raining steadily. The wind was still coming from the Northwest, but it was at a pretty steady 10 knots or so now and didn't look like it was kicking up much by way of waves. I grabbed quick bite of food, weighed anchor and got the Black Lady underway. It was a wet, gray and boring day sailing up the West coast of Cyphrus. Toward the end of the day I took her out into deep water out of sight of land. It took me about an hour to get the self-steering wind vane set up and working right. Now she would steer herself, maintaining the same angle against the wind and adjusting when the wind shifted. I went below, ate some dinner and turned in for the night, letting the Black Lady manage herself while I slept. A bit risky, I guess. But as long as the wind didn't change direction and drive her back to shore, we'd be fine. And I figured a big change in wind direction would wake me up anyway.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 3 Rain stopped today but still overcast. The wind shifted to the Southwest at about 15 knots. Around the middle of the day a pod of dolphins joined me and followed me for several hours before they got tired of the game and went off to do whatever dolphins do when they aren't playing with sailors. I did a little fishing and caught a couple of small whitefish. They fried up pretty good and were a nice change from stew. The wind vane doesn't work so well when the wind is coming from behind the boat, so when it got dark I hove-toA technique in which the sails and rudder are set in opposition to each other, which results in the boat slowly driving downwind in a series of long, slow swings. It is the deep-water equivalent to anchoring. Although the boat continues to drift backward it does so very slowly. instead of letting the Black Lady sail by herself.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 4 The sun came out today. Big puffy white clouds skipping across a clear blue sky. The wind was coming out of the West at about 20 knots, which put me on a beam reach point of sail, which meant the wind was hitting the Lady's sails broadside, which made me kinda nervous. Especially when gusts hit the sails and pushed the Lady over to about a forty-five degree angle. I know she's gonna right herself when the happens, but somehow it always feels like she's gonna keep right on going over. I reefed the main to reduce sail and that helped some. Toward the end of the day the Lady and I sailed past the Visai Caverns. I would have liked to have stopped because I've never visited them. But I decided to continue on to take advantage of the weather and the wind. I wasn't sure what the wind was going to do during the night, so I hove-to again rather than risk letting the Lady sail unattended.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 5 I'm starting to get into the rhythm of the voyage now. It was another sunny day, this time with no clouds to be seen. The wind dropped below10 knots, so we weren't making very good speed. I tried to reassure the Lady that it was alright to take it easy for a day. She's built to handle heavy winds and heavy seas. But everything's a trade-off. In this case, the trade-off is that she doesn't make very good speed in light winds. I decided to take advantage of the quiet sailing and do some work on the Lady. She had taken quite a beating when she went aground on Oyster Island and the repairs had been makeshift at best. That's why I'm going to Syliras. To get some professional repairs done. I checked the standing rigging. One of the guys was frayed so I replaced it. I hoped the rest held up because I didn't have anymore replacements for them. The repairs we had done to the bow of the boat were starting to work loose, so I spent some time getting them fixed up again. Then I did some more fishing, but I didn't catch anything. Had stew for dinner again. There was a full moon that evening. I sat on the deck smoking my pipe and watching the gently rolling waves flowing by in the moonlight. I was at peace.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 6 Today I sailed past Neemi Isle, rounded the northern-most cape of Cyphrus and turned East. The day started out hazy and soon clouded up. The wind was coming directly off the stern now so I set the sails in a wing-on-wing configuration, where the mains'l is all the way out over one side and the jib is all the way out over the opposite side. That puts maximum sail area directly in the wind. The only trick is that if the wind changes a little one way or other, it's real easy to get an unexpected jibe. The wind gets behind the main and sends it swinging across the stern and all the way over to the other side. If you're lucky, the worst that happens is the boom shatters when it comes to an abrupt halt on the other side, and you're left without a mains'l. If you're not so lucky, the boom hits you in the head on its way to the other side and knocks you out of the boat. So you have to stay alert when sailing wing-on-wing. But it does give you the boats maximum possible speed. That evening I anchored off a little strip of rocky beach footing a sandstone cliff that rose maybe 50 feet behind it. I waded ashore with my bow and arrows to do a little target practice. I picked out a log that had been washed up on the tiny beach and chose a darkened area as my target. I counted off twenty paces. From that distance I practiced a simple four-step firing routine: pull the notched arrow back, sight on the target, adjust for distance and wind, and release the arrow. Pull, sight, adjust, release. Pull, sight, adjust, release. Pull, sight, adjust, release. I went through twenty arrows. Twelve of them hit within a few inches of the target. Three more hit the log but not near enough the target to satisfy me. The remaining five missed the log completely. I collected the arrows, returned to the firing line and did another twenty shots. I repeated this three more times bringing my total to one hundred arrows fired. My hit rate on the target was sixteen out of twenty on the last round. By this time my left wrist was chaffed pretty bad from the bow string hitting it. In fact, my entire left arm was throbbing. It had been been less than a month since it had been seriously ripped up by a Yukman and it was not yet fully healed. I thought about the incident with the seal in the snow at Gray Cove. I marked a new firing line at thirty paces and continued practicing. At this range adjustment for wind and distance became more critical. The last twenty arrows hit dead on twelve out of twenty times. I thought about the expression on Sable's face after I had finally beat the poor seal into silence. Then I did another hundred at thirty paces. At the end my left arm was trembling with fatigue, my left wrist was bleeding and my right wrist was throbbing. My hit rate was sixteen out of twenty. I would have done another hundred if my left arm hadn't given out on me. Back in the Black Lady's cabin I put my professionally crafted bow away and sat staring at the poorly made bamboo bow I had used that day on the beach. It was hanging above one of the benches to remind me of the difference between a good kill and a bad kill, between a skilled hunter and an unskilled hunter. “I'm getting better, Sable. I'm getting better.”

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 7 Thus far the voyage had been pretty uneventful. That changed today. It was overcast again and the wind was coming out of the West at about 15 knots. Around mid-day I noticed another ship, the first I had seen since leaving Oyster Island. It was several miles off on a parallel course. Abruptly it changed to a course that would intercept the Black Lady. As it drew closer I identified it as a schooner. I had little doubt that they were pirates and that they had decided to check me out. The maximum speed of a sailing vessel is determined almost entirely by its length at the waterline. The longer it is at the waterline, the faster it can go. The schooner's waterline was at least twice as long as my Casinor's. Clearly I could not outrun it. But if I could stay ahead of them until nightfall, I might be able to lose them in the dark. The cloud cover would block out the moonlight. A good plan but I was pretty sure the pirates would reach me well before dark. Neither speed nor tactics were going to save me. I needed a different kind of edge. The sun was low in the Western sky when the schooner came within hailing distance. They had two of their three ballistas aimed in my direction. I watched as a heavy harpoon left one of the ballistas and sailed over the Black Lady. It was a warning shot. They were now waiting to see what I would do. I had decided to go for diplomacy … sort of. I brought up from below a wooden cage containing two Avikki birds. Once released, they would return to Oyster Island and the Baggywrinkle Pod. I rolled up a note I had written on paper and attached it to one of the bird's legs. Then I waited to see what the pirates would do. Before long the schooner was running a parallel course about twenty yards distance. “Ahoy Casinor,” shouted a man from the bridge. “You Svefra?” “Baggywrinkle Pod,” I shouted back. “Is there something I can help you with?” He turned and talked with two of his associates for a few moments. There appeared to be some disagreement among them as to what they should do next. Finally the man turned back to me. “Have a safe journey,” He said. “The Sea Wolf has no quarrel with the Svefra.” The schooner turned and sailed away. “Good job guys,” I said to the two birds as I took them below.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 8 Today was clear and gusty, with the wind coming out of the North at about 20 knots. It was kicking up a lot of chop that was tossing the Black Lady around more than I liked, so somewhere in the middle of the afternoon I anchored in a cove protected by a small island. I secured the sails, retrieved my bow and arrows, and went ashore to try my luck at hunting. The cove was there because of a fairly good sized stream winding its way down from hills covered by a dense forest of deciduous trees. I followed the stream for about an hour until the terrain leveled off and opened up into a clearing. Here a family of beavers had built a dam, which had created a small pond behind it. I gave the dam a wide berth as I made my way around to the other side of the pond. I located a spot that seemed reasonably well hidden and sat down to wait. Chewed off stumps poked up from the water here and there, and more chewed off stumps spread out around the pond. The dam itself looked like a random hodge-podge of logs, branches and bushes. But I knew that it was actually quite strong and that several dens connected by tunnels lay hidden in it. The day wore on toward evening. Various bird songs floated across the clearing and pretty soon a chorus of frogs added to the sounds of the forest. Idyllic is the word that comes to mind. There was a sweet smell of something I didn't recognize in the air. Spring was putting on a show. A movement caught my eye off to the left. I turned my head slightly to get a better look. A female deer stepped out from behind a tree. She looked around, her nose twitching and her ears moving back and forth. After a while she decided there was no danger and walked to the edge of the pond. Behind her came two fawns. They waited a little while and then cautiously made their way to the pond near their mother. I was fortunate that I was downwind of what little breeze there was. I carefully notched an arrow in the bow string and slowly raised the bow. I pulled the arrow back, sighted on the fawn nearest to me, aimed a little high to account for the distance, and released the arrow. It flew true and embedded itself solidly in the fawn's neck. The fawn jumped, staggered and fell to the ground. The mother deer and her other fawn had already disappeared. I could hear them crashing through the underbrush as they made their escape. I ran over to the downed fawn. It was dead, glassy eyes staring into the distance. “Thank you, little one, for providing me with food,” I said. “I'm glad your death was quick and painless.” I gutted it and pulled its entrails out. Then I dragged it back down to the beach where I spent the remainder of the evening skinning it and cutting out chunks of meat. I built a good sized fire and, after it had died down to a glowing bed of coals, I smoked the meat as best I could. It was dark by the time I got back to the Lady with my skins and smoked meat. The skins I would scrape clean tomorrow and hang them out to dry in the sun. The meat would last for about two weeks before I either ate it all or it went bad.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 9 This morning I went back up to the clearing. I had noticed some wild potato plants and I wanted to see if there were any tubers ripe enough to harvest. I was surprised to find that some were indeed ripe enough to eat, although just barely. I spent about two hours digging up the thumb-sized tubers. I took them back to my boat. The rest of the day was spent on a beam reach in a stiff breeze. White caps danced around the Lady as she plowed through the water along the north coast of Cyphrus. That night I anchored off a narrow gravel beach. I took my pot, some meat and all the potatoes ashore, built a fire and made a big stew of meat and potatoes. It was pretty good. At least by my standards. And I had a couple more dinners worth left in the pot.

[Daske Baggywrinkle]

Day 10 Another rough passage with gusty wind and choppy water. In the evening I anchored beneath the Black Cliffs. I knew Black Beach Cavern was around here somewhere but I wasn't sure exactly where. In any case, I was exhausted. So I heated up the stew and had it for dinner. Then I turned in for the night. I figured I was about at the mid-point of the journey to Syliras.