Day 18 At Sea
Escapade
Tue 13 Dec 2016 10:56
5th day of high winds and big seas. We have gusts of upto 35 knots, force 8, with big breaking seas to match. it is very tiring and quite dangerous to move around the boat without risking injury, so yesterday I stayed in the saloon all day, and it looks like the winds and waves have increased today so even James said he wasn’t going out in the cockpit today. We have had a few massive waves break over the stern and pound the windward side, so have had to baton down the hatches and literally sweat it out in the saloon (30 degrees) and let Escapade get on with it. She is performing amazingly well surfing down the waves like a big surf board, 12 knots down the wave into the trough at 4knots, up and down, up and down. We have calculated that we need to average 6.66 knots in order to drop anchor at 14.00 on Friday.
It’s James’ 50th Birthday today, not quite what he was hoping for, but who else can say they were mid atlantic in a gale for their 50th? I managed a sit down cold shower and took to my bunk quite early, with a stunning, full moon and our massive wake bubbling silver foam. James did the whole night watch himself and reported this morning that we had had a monster of a wave which he thought was sure to break on our stern, but it slipped under us much to his relief.
Anyway, this can’t last forever, we are fine just a bit knackered (James more than me).