It’s Come in a Bit Uncomfortable

Posted bymikeclarke01Posted inUncategorized

Saturday 24 July 2021

Mid-Tasman

If yesterday was calm, then today… it’s not!  The wind began to build through the night from the North East, and as it did we reduced sail – a second reef in the main, reduced the size of the jib, then wound in the staysail altogether.

As the wind built, so did the sea with our motion going from level tennis court to a rodeo bull ring in just a few hours.  Matt worked through the night trimming sails, staying on watch and downloading the latest forecast.  This showed more bad news to come from the south, so we are starting the track further north to miss the worst of it.

Looking at the chart plotter, I see we are about half way across “the ditch” … named by someone who obviously had never sailed it. 

Mid morning, Harm was on watch and noted the wind speed climbing, so too our pace through the waves which had the sense of us “racing’…  but not in a good way.  It was clear that things had gone up a notch and we were over-powered.

Before the sun came up we were racing along through the night under a glistening moon
Wind direction was good for the first part of the day … north east, off our starboard side … and our speed through the night averaged 7-8 knots. Note the reflection of the red nav light on the bow and the waves under the half-moon
You can see the mainsheet well-eased to spill more wind from the double-reefed sail
No matter how many weather maps Matt downloaded, there was no getting away from the fact that things were about to change – and not for the better.
The arrows show the direct and strength of the wind, with the blue triangle our position – nothing was going to stop the advance of the westerly change, due to hit us in less than 12 hours – we just had to prepare as best we could
The pictures below help to bring the above weather map to life … more red, more wind, more sea, you just want to have it going your way as much as possible.
The sun is up and we still had the wind going our way … but not for long
Anyone like some lunch …?

Sam and I responded by clipping our safety harness tethers onto the port jackstay (safety line) and going forward to pull down the mainsail, while Harm brought us up into the, by now, 35-40 knot gale.

Ever since, we have been running before the conditions … staying as dry and snug as we can be, in the cockpit – each of us taking turns to go below to rest – real sleep being a bit tricky.

Eventually, a double reefed main and staysail were too much to carry … enter … Sam and Rob to wrestle them in and stow them away. You’ll see that the sail on the boom doesn’t look so pretty, but conditions favoured function over aesthetics and we were happy to have got the sails down and lashed away without sustaining damage or injury
We altered our course to essentially run with the conditions, carrying a jib the size of a table cloth and the engine ticking away in the background. With 1,400 litres of diesel in the tanks and a motor that uses only 3-5 litres an hour, we had plenty in reserve for occasions like this
This image illustrates more than most the value of an enclosed cockpit

We’ve recently had torrential rain, which flattened the sea somewhat. Outside it’s grey on grey interspersed with white breaking seas, spray and white caps – I wish I could upload some photos.

Despite having just a tiny bit of headsail out – not even enough for a table cloth – we are still making about 5 knots … occasionally up to 7 as we travel down the front of a wave.

Food did make an appearance this afternoon.  In a superhuman effort Harm, after catching a few hours rest, poked his head out of the companionway hatch asking …  “anyone for some reheated dinner from last night?”

Sam and I had been riding the bucking bronco Chimere in the cockpit much of the afternoon and never was such a question answered in the affirmative.  It tasted good last night but this afternoon it was even more delicious.

Eventually it was time for a shift-change, I’m now off-watch, and mercifully the seas have calmed down, and the wind a mere 25 knots.

I grabbed a couple of hours rest in my bunk and probably even some sleep.  Feeling a bit guilty, I suited up in dry gear, only to be informed by Matt and Harm that I can go back to sleep again …  they are good for a few more hours.  Yeah!! Time off for good behavior perhaps.

Not a lot of sail up … just a small jib the size of a stormsail … you can see how the torrential rain is starting to flatten the seas
Eventually the wind died down a bit and we were left with flatter seas and passing showers

Our sail configuration is a bit unorthodox … still got a tiny jib hoisted, but we have Perkins ticking away at 1400RPM …it gives us around 6 knots speed meaning we are not caught over-canvassed if another big blow comes through and it keeps the saloon kind-of-warm, which is nice. 

There are times when it’s a bit tricky sitting at a laptop to write up the daily blog … here I am using satphone texts to summarise the day. The texts were sent to friend Mike Clarke in Melbourne, who cobbled them together into the daily blog. Mike’s job was made even more difficult by the fact that not every word of each satphone text got through. Sometimes whole sentences got lost in the clouds … and there were lots of them out here

Funny, just when you think you’ve sorted the sea pattern, all of a sudden we’ll be hit on the beam with one extra large wave that takes you by surprise.  There’s the signature lift to the starboard side, followed by a ‘Whoosh’ then ‘Bang’ as the wave hits and then goes vertical, only to land or be blown all over us.  Good thing we have the cockpit enclosure and that most water is kept out.

No sunset tonight.  The grey world just got greyer, then darker, then black … even the full moon is being kept away.

Had to send today’s blog via multiple sat-texts.  Thanks Mike for putting all the pieces together.

Until Tomorrow …

Smooth seas, fair breezes and it’s come in a bit uncomfortable.

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