Busses at sea
Miss Molly 4
Bob & Peggy Wilkerson/Geoff & Merel Pettifer
Wed 13 May 2009 01:10
177:50.49 E
We thought we would have an easier night. OK, it felt a bit warmer, but then the squalls came again. And not only that, by now the seas had built up so much that some of them started breaking before we could reach the tops of them. Which resulted several times into getting slammed sideways. It really felt like we got hit by a bus. Molly then rolls over to leeward, scoops up heaps of sea water over the lee side gunnels while the breaking wave goes over the sprayhood and bimini. Quite spectacular, being on the inside of this bubble, surrounded by frothing water. Molly then rolls back to the windward side before the pendulum slowly stops. Below decks you hear lots of stuff shifting about, although everything has been stowed. And always this voice shouting up from the captain's cabin: "You're OK up there?". With the reply from the deck: "Yep, still there, all's fine!!" And we are, because the autopilot is correcting beautifully and the sails are set just fine, so that we are not pinned down healing over in the squalls at all. It's just those bloody waves! If we're not careful they will take the newly painted blue stripes with them!
As forecasted the winds have eased this morning and we are now down to less than 20 kts, more like 15. We hope the seas will follow suit soon, so that life on board can be a bit more smooth. We have enough bruises now from being tossed around, thank you!
The progress has been good despite the seas trying to stop us: 179 Nm in the last 24 hrs. The sun is out again and conditions seem to get better. We hope to make it to Minerva Reef before the headwinds arrive.
Cheers from Geoff & Merel