squall

Escapada
Andreas Haas
Sun 6 Dec 2009 21:15
14.13.76N    051.57.47W
 
ESCAPADA continues her onward journey to St.Lucia through challenging weather and heavy seas. Just in the last 12 hours we have been hit by 2 large squalls.
The first one came in very rapidly from behind us at sundown last night bringing with it wind at 40 knots (about 80 km/hour), torrential rain and slamming waves.
 ESCAPADA was tossed violently from side to side while the wind circled around from all directions battering the sails..We quickly fully furled in the Genoa and
weathered the storm just under double reefed Main. This was the strongest of the storms thus far during our 14 day  journey, but not for long.  The second one
came at daybreak. With Bobbie on watch alone, Captain Flagpole was up on deck in seconds to furl away the Genoa, reef the Main and raise the sprayhood. Then,
we braced for the inevidable slam. It came violently and hard. First the rain started, followed almost immediately with a massive surge of wind. As the wind climbed
from 20 to 30 to 40 knots, the waves crashed on the deck from all sides. All we could do was firmly hold on, sail through it  and ride the storm. The Captain himself
took over the helm and safely steered ESCAPADA through the rollercoaster ride of the Caribbean morning.
 
After every storm there is a calm. After recovering from the morning squall, we went to a starboard tack with only the Main. This improved our course which had
been too southerly due to the changing winds. Now we are back on course heading straight into St Lucia. With less than 550 miles left to go, about  80 % of our
passage has now been completed.
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       THIS IS JUST LIKE IN ENGLAND!                                                         BIG, MEAN, WET AND WILD                                                                    RIDING THE STORM         
 
 
 
After the squall passed and everything was quiet again, we had a discussion about the best practices of how we handled the storm. We all concluded that Moses
and Captain Flagpole did the best job in battling the storm and that they should continue this next time it comes. Their reaction was captured in the photos below.
 
  
                                                                                  
 
                                                                                                WHERE CAN WE HIDE FROM THE NEXT STORM??