night time

Ondina
Fri 30 Nov 2007 22:08
Mark-I love the night watches and tonight is the best so far. After a
frustrating few days of unreliable winds we are finally experiencing
consistent 20 knot winds. We think we may have picked up the start of the
trade winds, if this is the case they should carry us all the way over to
St. Lucia. Tonight the moon will not rise until midnight and until then it
is very black, gradually your eyes adjust but the images cannot come into
focus without artificial light and as we are looking out for other ships
lights we keep all lights out (apart from our navigation light at the top
of the mast) the sky is full of stars, more than you can ever see on land,
and you are treated to a shooting star every couple of hours. Tonight’s
winds have extra drama, the boat has come alive and is really enjoying
bucking and yawing in the waves as the wind forces her through the water.
We are finding ourselves at incredible angles to the horizon at times, as
we negotiate the increasingly big waves, seemingly defying gravity, but
Ondina always bobs back upright. The sound of the wind and waves combine
to fill your ears where your vision is so restricted. I can just see the
outline of waves as they approach the back of the boat and then force
their way beneath her allowing her to surf down their faces creating
swathes of foaming white water in her wake. I hope the wind holds.