Atlantic Crossing - Day 14 - bumpy ride/ heave-to

The Talulah's Web Diary
Ali Pery / Shane Warriker
Sat 29 May 2010 15:35
34:15.614N 41:50.234W

The dead calm didn't last long.

We have just had our second night of "heaving-to" (where we set the sails to
work against each other which stops us from sailing forward but holds us
pointing into the wind. It's supposed to be more comfortable.Hmmm! It's a
relative thing- it is of course, safer). We did it for about 6 hours the
night before to allow a nasty low pressure in front of us to move away.and
then we were off, like a sprinter blasting off from the starting blocks
Talulah rapidly accelerated to 10.5 knots and held the speed for 4.5 hours
until we decided that in fact we'd actually caught up with the low pressure
system, we decided it'd probably be prudent to "heave to" again. Not a
moment too soon. Gale force winds raged around us picking up to 42 knots
(gale force 8 / severe gale 9). The sea is very confused and Talulah climbs
the wall of the huge waves, rides the crest, and settles back down, as the
mountain of water slides past underneath her shaking her from side to side
like a fairground ride. Then there are those waves that break over her. In a
bizarre way, it's actually quite comforting though, to know that we've done
everything we can do, and that all that's left is to wait for the winds to
die down, knowing that Talulah is safe and so are we.

Ali is doing a marvellous job in the galley, performing miracles, and
keeping our tummy's full, with some inventive dishes (she's doing a fry-up
as I write this), and every day manages to uncover another bit of (fresh?)
food that soon goes into the pot. Of course she also does her fair share of
watch keeping and boat handling. I'd recommend every yachtsman gets one
like her on board.