Force 9? All is well (minus a horseshoe)
Shalan
Thu 8 Jun 2017 23:37
COG: 100
Trip: 1231
DTD: 1789
Good evening all. An impromtu update and safety notification. We continued into the day expecting to see the winds shift North with the cold front passing and decrease to 25 knots and down to 20 knots this evening. Contrary to the forecast which gave a maximum wind speed of 30 knots, winds steadily rose to 43 knots gusting up to 47....force 9. The seas got mountainous, 4-6 metre waves with large breaking crests. This continued for a couple of hours testing everyone's underpants. We reefed in further and ran with it to keep the breakers off the beam. We had a few points with significant water coming over the port aft quarter, one which ripped off the Horseshoe and Seaman Stains (our port fishing rod which was in the holder with the lanyard on).
Eventually the front did pass and the winds veered NW dropping to 25 knots...all aboard were rather pleased to see that happen I can assure you! So it's now 2030 here and we've been going well the rest of the day with these winds, we're moving along at a steady 9/10 knots. Brownwater has just cooked up some special fried rice and the rest of the tuna which was luuuurvely! We may even put a film on and have a bowl of popcorn to chill out!
So. To repeat that safety notification. There is now a white horseshoe floating around in the Atlantic with SHALAN written on it. We are not in trouble and do not require any assistance. There are no missing persons or MOB. All are well on board...apart from Seaman Stains. RIP Seaman Stain's....may there be plentiful fish to catch in your watery afterlife.
Shalan Out