A kind reader recently commented at how he enjoys the more mundane of my postings. Enjoy! 

On a tracking post (pre-April ‘23) I defined Sailing Perfection – just the right amount of wind and calm-enough seas to make-way an easy 7+ knots. During another such bout of fantastic bounding across the ocean, distantly offshore, reclining off-watch on the leeward settee I attempted to, but lost count of individual “voices” in the surrounding cacophony. I grabbed the iPad in the darkness and jotted.

I refer to these audible sensations as sounds – contrary to noise, which would be a negative connotation. Some folks play audio recordings of the ocean surf, or falling rain, to provide a soothing background when unable (or unwilling) to get out there for the real experience. Maybe you appreciate a similar experience in your backyard, only with completely different sounds? Perhaps with some better equipment I could make a ‘relaxation’ recording! Maybe you heard something additional on your boat?

Can you audibly “envision” each unique sound by its source as Fayaway glides over the ocean?

1. Water – think: swiftly moving your hand across water in a bathtub or swimming pool. Gently whooshing, swooshing, lightly splashing alongside in the wake of our hull, rushing past, cycling as we bound across with each deep swell and wave.

2. Water – in scuppers gurgling up and down the drain hoses with each gentle sideways roll through waves and swells.

3. Water – in galley and head sink drains, gurgling also with each roll.

4. Hourly “bling/chime” from the IridiumGo! satellite radio, issuing its tracking location, obediently, precisely on the 4-hour mark.

5. Dishware clanking – from spices to glassware, bottles in the fridge, to books and gadgets on the shelves, seemingly uncountable and untraceable to find them all, but issuing a steady clink, clunk or bonk with every roll and wave.

6. Oven housing clanking, with it’s gimbal locked, the sheet metal box with racks still creates an echoey clank. We’ve tried stuffing towels around the racks and edges, but now we’ve simply given in, accustomed to another small instrument in our symphony.

7. Boom vang spring whirring and lightly scraping as it slightly compresses and decompresses with the heavy boom’s swaying mass.

8. Gooseneck squeak. Or is it an internal block inside the boom? Difficult to discern exactly where, as this moderate but deep throaty squeak conducts throughout the boom, like an old microphone and down into the cabin.

9. Genoa sheet block movement, a little squeak, as the salt-encrusted nylon sheet stretches and unstretches, according to the swell and wave frequency.

10. Lazy Jack lines and various halyards inside and outside mast flapping on the mast. So many lines create an endless battle to reduce the tap-tap-tapping. Not so easy to eliminate while keeping lines loose enough for use, and for easily clipping-in with our safety tether, as one scampers across the deck.

11. Very softly the refrigerator and freezer compressors and fans cycle, emanating a low discernable motorized hum. Mmmm… cold beer!

12. Autopilot whirring, speaking its ghostly sounds, sometimes with dreadful screeching, groaning or grinding, making us aware of its dissatisfaction in a boisterous following sea. Could be used for background in a Halloween movie soundtrack!

13. Sometimes when it’s rough, the anchor and chain add their own clanking as they rock and shift while pinned into their respective cradling rollers. A reminder to check its safety tether.

14. Ah, let’s not forget the wind! Under 10 knots it is virtually silent through the rigging. At 15 there’s a slight whisper; at 20 to 30, there’s a graduated whistling. Above 35 it becomes an increasingly loud roar, combined with whistling. And above that it becomes noise… let’s not think about it.

15. Sails slacken with a billowing luff if a wind lull or wave pushes the draft forward for a few seconds. We try to balance this effect with slightly oversheeting, versus reefing versus continually adjusting sails. The latter I’ve been known to do, frequently (too frequently?) just for something to occupy myself!

16. You may think I’ve gone a bit bonkers at this last one, but Kelly concurs, we sometimes hear muted human voices, mixed into the cacophony. Perhaps a mind-bending harmonic mishmash from various sources, likely dominated from wind passing through the rigging, the voices have yet to issue clear demonic demands!

Related takeaways:

Not everything that moves aboard makes sound. For example, Vinny (da Vane), when deciding to function, makes no discernible sound, except perhaps that from water swooshing from his own rudder fighting to correct course on the downside of a deep swell. (We have hanging gear nets that swing silently too.)

Contrarily, our diesel tractor engine (aka freight train) is so objectionably noisy (note choice of word) that most of the above sounds are utterly drowned out. Oddly enough, when motoring for extended periods, it’s often no problem to sleep, as the machine noise becomes a continuous “white noise”.

Enjoy your day! And… hug your kids!