4 November 2010
I don't know what caused it but shortly after lunch we found ourselves in the roughest of seas. Poor Voyageur was tossed around all over the place, things that normally stay put flying about the cabin. David was thrown half out of the sea berth. And it wasn't as if the wind was that strong, 20knots from the south east. We tried to figure out what was going on. Clearly we could not continue like this. We studied the ocean and saw were in a crazy cross swell. So, we jibed. A transformation took place and peace was restored once more above and below decks. Voyageur surfed down the waves with ease at times reaching over 10knots. It grew suddenly cold. The cockpit screen went up and we stayed warm behind its snug shelter that it gave from the wind. Now a new challenge was thrown up. The AIS displayed two targets, heading straight for us on opposing sides. On our starboard, MV Austria, was showing a CPA of 1nm. The CPA for the one to port, La Etoile was less than 1nm! We were betwixt and between. We were in no position to head away from the vessel to port as that would take us more into the path of the ship. We held our course. The seas were of such a size that when La Etoile was only two nm away I still could not see him so presumed him to be a fishing boat. We watched the CPA gradually change as he altered course to go behind our stern with the ship slowly passing ahead of our bow. Although we always monitor shipping on the radar and keep checking visually, the AIS transponder gives such accurate ongoing information that it must surely be one of the most valuable tools we have available to us when sailing as we are on the same rhumb line course as all this major shipping, plying their way between the Americas and the Far East.
Sailing fast at last!
The first we knew of approaching bad weather was on the six o'clock informal chat SSB net. Stephen of A Lady had received a phone call from a friend in Ireland to warn him. To be honest we were a bit sceptical. The Grib files did not show anything. But at 9 o'clock on the listening watch, Sandro of Lady Lisa had received notice of a gale warning from his personal weather forecaster which confirmed it. It predicted winds of thirty to forty knots in two hours time and put me in a state of fear and alarm, rekindling memories of that awful night four days out from Cocos Keeling. I prepared for the worst. We dived south to distance ourselves from its expected position, battened down the hatches and and waited. A storm in a teacup, the stronger winds passed us well to the north we never experienced anything above 28 knots with seas that were manageable. Voyageur sped on throughout the night at times surfing down the waves at speeds of up to ten knots. The further away we got from the south coast of Madagascar we noted the less the impact was of the opposing current. In the morning we jibed and enjoyed fast exciting sailing averaging between eight and nine knots in brisk force six winds. The seas were huge once more but this time there were no breaking waves. Up until now we have averaged a paltry 130nm a day. Now we had added another 40nm to that, more the mileage we would expect to cover on the ocean. At 4pm we had passed the halfway mark and felt at last that we getting somewhere on our progress west and as if to mark the occasion a pod of dolphins leaping high out of the wave crests passed ahead of Voyageur's bow, their big black bodies glistening in the sun. It was thrilling to watch but I do not think their showy aquatic display was put on just for our benefit but a chase to the death by some much larger, more dangerous predator.
Susan Mackay