32 08N 11 37W

Great Escapes Yacht Charters SY Great Escape
GEP /Phil Munday/ Ocean skipper Emily Bower
Mon 28 Oct 2013 09:54

Sickness at Sea

Pitching is the front and back of a boat going up and down alternately. Rolling is the sides going up and down.  Yawing is the crab-like diagonal wiggle that is both hard to explain and hard for the human brain to cope with.  It is the yawing that triggers seasickness.  The seas have been steadily building with a 4m swell reaching us from 100s of miles away coupled with a slightly smaller but steeper wave pattern created by our current F6 wind. The two wave patterns are about 40 degrees to each other causing cancelling out at times and reinforcement at others.  This makes helming a course of 213 degrees challenging and doing anything else on board almost impossible.  Like making coffee in a tumble drier.  Even getting dressed without toppling over is a challenge. Needless to say we are all feeling a bit queasy except Em who can of course walk on water.

Mind you since Maggie permanently moved into Rob and Jeremy’s boudoir she only seems to feel queasy in the mornings. What goes on the boat stays on the boat but, Martin, you might prepare yourself for some little changes in your wife!

Sickness applies equally to the boat. About midnight (things at sea always happen at night) we noticed something clanking at the mast. Skipper quickly identified that the radar dome was hanging off. So a bit of pole dancing by Jeremy, Stephen and Malene was required to lower the spinnaker pole, lower the main sail, and form a mast climbing party to rescue the radar dome (a rather heavy metal flying saucer). All of which was not easy in the aforementioned choppy seas.  The mast hoist was just about to commence when the radar dome flew off on its own and landed neatly at Nicole’s feet.  Phew. We all enjoyed a breather then back out with poled out headsail and 2 reefs in the main.  Now it is daylight it seems impossible that the heavy metal brackets that held the dome in place could shear off, but all’s well that ends well.

The morning sun has an amazing effect. The wind has eased a little, the seas have calmed, we are making good speed in the right direction, and everyone feels good. Shorts, bare feet and T shirts are appearing. 

A few hours make such a difference.  Such is life at sea.

Stephen

 

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