18:26.794N 53:15.161W
Wednesday 2nd December
It was like a scene from the film Twister last night as Amy and
Paul H were storm chasing or should I say storm hiding! At about 10 pm Paul
woke Amy by saying "we have a little problem"! To our starboard was a
huge storm! We could see it approaching on the radar, these massive yellow
blobs moving around the screen. It was in 3 pods about 2 miles out stretching
over about 6 miles and it was moving in our direction! Plan A was put into
action.......as we were motoring they decided to stop the boat and wait for it
to pass. So for 5 minutes Jackamy was just floating in the middle of the
Atlantic and going nowhere. But as the wind has dropped completely and the
storm was moving so slow we'd still have been waiting now if we'd have
continued. So it was on to Plan B.......which was to go full speed ahead and
try and get in front of the beast. When they saw flashes of lightening from
inside the clouds it was time for drastic action. Our heading at the moment to
get us into Antigua is 270 degrees but for a moment last night we were almost
headed for Cape Horn on 240 and 220 degrees. We were doing pretty much anything
to run from the big bugger! Then slowly and quite eerily the clouds dispersed
and the storm disappeared. Just in the nick of time as it was now 11 pm and time
for mine and Paul B's watch!
The rest of the day has been remarkably quiet, a little too quiet perhaps.
There is still no wind! We've been trying to sail but every now and then we
give in and just have to put the engine on. As the seas are so calm at the
moment we had hoped for a visit from some dolphins but no such luck. Perhaps
when we get a little closer they'll pop up to say hello!
The first boat has made it in to Antigua today. It's looking like we'll be
arriving Sunday now but who knows, anything could happen with the weather!
Not much else to report I'm afraid!
I think I've just jinxed us! Just as I finished typing and turned the laptop
off, I went up on deck to notice a full rainbow stretching right across the
back of the boat. On closer inspection I realised the rainbow was framing a
squall! We could see the ripples on the water and the waves increasing as it
got closer so it was in with the washing and down below for 5 minutes to let
the rain pass.
