It is very difficult to photograph wild ocean but Willi VS managed to snap this on his i-phone. The swells are about 5 metres deep/high and as they approach the yacht are truly impressive. Carango rises powerfully up each crest and plunges down into the following trough. Then out of the blue she is hit with a massive blow from the side at a completely different angle to the general flow direction of other growlers. This sideways waves breaks with massive force on the cabin roof taking any loose property with it. The cockpit is swamped but has huge drain holes and a swirling force empties it quickly in time for the next. The hatches down into the cabin and closed - some other yachts have had sea water through the entire cabin - but we are too old and experienced to fall for that one!

This has been going on for 38 hours now Malcolm stopped eating 2 days ago and Mark followed in his footsteps yesterday. Willi is remarkably still preparing cold food and of course I’m still hogging away at anything passed in my direction. Actually this morning Willi cooked fried eggs and he and I ate well. Everyone is still performing well and all watches are being taken with admirable grit as expected. We are on a very sound yacht; many say the best in the World. We have a very sound crew so all is well.

On the stern rail are a number of emergency safety devices including one which when submerged in seawater automatically initiates a very bright strobe light. During the darkness hours last night and following another side growler wave when the stern was under water; off went this strobe light once it initiates it continues until it is dry again - it is far too dangerous to go onto the aft deck to sort this out - so Carango is now a flashing beacon in the night.

 The wind speed is shown on the second instrument from the left and this is indicative  a steady 35 knots but we are in gusts up to 46.4 thus far which is Force 9 Storm on the Beaufort scale.

Cooking, eating , chart navigating  and in fact anything in a yacht heeled over at 10 degrees and pitching fore and aft about 35 degrees is a challenge. Going to the loo is a mighty challenge - our loo is up hill so to speak. I will spare you the details but just think it through? No longer a problem for Malcolm and Mark though - some people will do anything to avoid a challenge. 

Skippers main challenges are ensuring the is crew morale (no problem there) that log is filled in, communication and navigation is maintained, maintenance of electrical power and charged batteries and ensuring the yacht remains sound and of course sailing. Yesterday the main GPS system failed and all navigation instruments were lost - so we were on old fashioned hand navigation calculations. In these conditions when legible writing with a pencil is tough - I find I have to repeat each plot at least twice and then check again. Thankfully we got the GPS working again some hours later and confirmed our speed and position - not too far off my plot so happy with that. Motivating oneself to get up, feeling slightly woozy, to try to mend an electrical GPS problem is a challenge but one simply has to turn too and do it.

We have HF SSB Radio [long range] and communicate with other yachtsmen regularly at preplanned intervals. Others near us have had a similar night. One yacht had just dished up a pre-prepared chicken curry, vindaloo I suspect, the entire curry was emptied down the front of a crew man with the smatterings which missed him landing generally over a wide area of cream suede upholstery.

As I write the storm continues.

For the benefit of those possibly concerned relatives reading this from comfortable armchairs at home - PLEASE DON’T WORRY - we are totally in control the ship is sound, probably the soundest on the sea. Carango is performing superbly - the skipper has no worries or doubts at all. The helm is lashed and all is well. We should be anchored up in a secure anchorage to a tiny island in mid Indian Ocean by 11.30 am local time on Tuesday 27th September. All is well.