Nasty, steep little seas
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Sat 30 Oct 2010 00:33
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33:40.88N
015:36.92W
We're less than 50 miles from Porto Santo now and
the amount of shipping is growing. There's phosphorescence in the water that
keeps fooling the person on watch into thinking they have spotted the lights of
a distant ship.
Summer Song is fizzing along nicely with a reef in
the main and the gib, doing a sporty 6 knots. At this rate we should be in the
harbour shortly after sunrise. However, it's been a day to keep us on our toes
after a seriously rocky night last night.
The wind did exactly as it was meant to, stiffening
to about 20 knots and veering all the way around from east to west. No
complaints there. But as the outer ripples of the low affecting Biscay rolled
out to meet us, the sea cut up into vicious little short waves which had the
boat rearing and plunging all night long like some sort of rodeo bronco. Sleep
was near impossible for whoever wasn't on watch, because every few minutes we'd
be stopped by a wave with a resounding shudder passing all along the
boat.
It continued long after daybreak, with peaks of
vertiginous blue water lining up in the distance to march in towards us, with
their heads swathed in angry foam. Even after the cloud thinned out, we were
left dodging conspicuous squalls that brought 30+ knot winds and heavy
rain.
It's fair to say that we're seriously looking
forward to some shore leave when we arrive. It's high season in Madeira, but
we're hoping to find a pontoon berth in the NATO marina. Failing that, there are
some complicated anchoring or mooring possibilities elsewhere in the huge
harbour. The sea is more than 25 degrees all of a sudden and there's a warm wind
blowing. It's starting to feel more Caribbean.
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