Knockdown off Tristan!
Oldnick
Sat 18 Jan 2003 15:15
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Not bad for an attention grabbing headline eh? We
were always going to drop into Tristan (world's most remote island community) if
the weather was good (very open anchorage) and if we arrived in the morning
sometime so that we could spend the day there. As it happened we arrived
in the vacinity around 1800 and it was blowing 30 knots from the west so we
missed out on both accounts. We were going to take a photo and include it with
the diary entry but even though we sailed within 5 miles the whole island was
covered with cloud and only a faint outline could be spotted through the mist
and gloom - so pretty disappointing all round!
Later that evening the wind increased, the seas got
bigger and more confused and at around midnight we were knocked flat by a wall
of green (but thankfully not breaking) water. Rog was at the helm and took the
brunt of it. Down below was not too bad, although Karyn took an unwanted
cold saltwater shower in her bunk as it all came down the
companionway and straight into her berth. No damage though so that is the
main thing.
It had been a slow and slightly frustrating week
with light winds, but the last 3 days has seen some stronger westerlies push in
to give us a bit more speed. Currently we are at 37 degrees South, 9 degrees
West with approx 1400 miles to go to Cape Town. Today's noon to noon run was 162
miles so if we can maintain something around that we'll be in on the
27th!
Had a slight scare yeaterday with the boom -
noticed on the morning watch that the bolt holding it to the gooseneck was
almost out. Found the nut on the deck and Rog and I managed to get it all back
together again. Another thing to keep an eye on. Already have a long list of
maintenance to do in Cape Town before we head off to Fremantle.
All in all though we are in fine shape and eating
well.
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