Crew Blog

Bouncing along

11 October 2007

Last night was the spookiest night of sailing ever experienced. There were two storms coming together. Wind gusts from 22-30 knots and then patches of nothing, hardly moving sails, flappy but doing 6 knots.

It was crazy on deck, but just as crazy below. Looking forward to our weekly night’s sleep on mother watch, we spent from 12.00-07.30 bouncing around and almost levitating from our bunks which were already at a crazy angle as myself and the other mother were on the high side. I managed to ride out the storm whilst Rhona jostled for space in the saloon and ended up on the floor as it was slightly cooler than the sauna-like conditions in the forward sleeping area. A wild night x 10 of anything else we have experienced.

By 09.00 the storm had lifted and we were flying along in very nice 10-25 knot winds in the right direction! And the sun was shining. Still a little bouncy, in fact so bouncy that one good bump snapped the checkstay which keeps the mast from bending in the middle - we’ll need help from the maintenance team to repair this in Salvador.

After spending several days in torrential down pours, we eventually dried out the electrics and managed to get deck instruments working again - another task conquered by Rob and JC.

Claire and Rhona