Race 6 - Day 10
Crew Diary - Race 6 Day 10: Hobart to Whitsundays
15 January

The interrupted blog.

I started writing this blog yesterday but had to go on deck as a large southerly storm was impending and did eventually hit. Now, this morning I have started to write it again in order to include a bit about the storm and have again been interrupted but this time it was by dancing dolphins. Those naughty dolphins! Lets try again – third time lucky.

Progress on this race to Airlie has been a long drawn out process. Our zig-zagging up the coast has meant that we have spent more time going sideways than we have up but when we do see land, what a sight it beholds. Over the last two nights we have watched the most incredible thunderstorms take place, the first was over land whilst we watched from the safety of the boat offshore and the second was last night in which we got hammered by. The storms must have spread for hundreds of miles across the coast and for a few hours, Mother Nature put on a spectacular light show. The night sky had a myriad of colours from green to amber to bright white. It almost makes the fireworks at New Year's Eve look short lived! The sheet lightning provides so much light that torches are no longer required. You need to squint at the sky as your eyes are too slow to react to the brightness from the dark dark nights. The fork lightning streaked across the horizon and resembled veins which disappeared as quickly as they came. I'm not sure if those forks hit anything specific but I'm pleased that we weren't directly underneath.

Unlike the squall that hit us a few days ago and caught us completely by surprise, the southerly storm yesterday was on our radar. As our watch went on deck, it was like we were waiting for impending doom. We knew it was coming but we didn't know when. One moment the wind dropped and we thought...here it comes..and then nothing. Eventually the AIS gave away the storm's secret and we could tell that the boats further south had gone from bobbing to scooting along at 9/10 knots. We knew it was coming for us in the next few minutes.

When it hit, we were prepared. We already had reefs in and the yankee came down quickly. To say we got wet was an understatement though. The rain was more like a fire hydrant and the water somehow seemed to be moving up my legs – how is that possible when wearing foulie bottoms?? We were all completely soaked. If it wasn't for the 40+ knot winds and the fact it was blowing a gale, all I would have needed was my shampoo and I could have had a decent shower in no time at all, Overall though, it was as smooth as a storm transition could get – a vast improvement from the previous experience. The change in weather also brought us those much needed southerly winds pushing us towards Airlie. Finally we are moving with a little gusto. Woohoo – off we go!

As for those dancing dolphins – they just put on a morning show that would make Cirque du Soleil proud. They greeted our boat on this very grey and drizzly morning and made everyone smile with their routine of back flips and somersaults. There was a large pod of them playing around the boat for a good 10 minutes. I like to think they were providing us with a private show purely for our enjoyment but if the flying fish making a swift exit was anything to go by, then there was probably just a big shoal of fish beneath us. Oh well – I prefer the thought our own little Sanya Serenity Coast Cirque du Soleil dancing dolphin show.

Kimberley