Riding the Rollers!
Lady Stardust Faro-Portugal to Barcelona - 2010
Paul Collister
Thu 6 Jul 2006 11:53
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During my 4-8am watch on Wednesday morning the
waves gradually increased in height and force until we were being rolled
fiercely from side to side. There were alarming crashing sounds
coming from down below as things began to fall and get thrown around but later
we discovered the only things on the floor were some papers, a few books and my
Neil Young CDs (much to Paul's amusement). The boat was being tossed around
so much in the increasing wind speed it was hard to steer a straight course in
order to avoid all the buoys marking the fishing nets. I went to
bed at 8 30 expecting that things would be calmer when I woke up but if anything
the waves were higher and the wind stronger by midday.
 The rolling was such that the effect was like being on a bucking
bronco -impossible to tell which direction the next lurch would hurl you
into. I managed to make us a coffee with some difficulty and
then thought it best to stop moving around and thus avoid ending up in an
ungainly or painful position on the floor - breakfast would have to wait.
Lying on the bunk reading The Great Gatsby while being rocked from side to side
was not too hard to endure and Paul was relishing the conditions up above.
Luckily neither of us felt seasick and in spite of the relentless rolling and
difficulty maintaining balance, the sea was an impressive sight. Huge
walls of water were coming at us from the back and the side which pushed us
along as they broke and then we were in a chasm between them until the next one
pushed us up again. This has continued throughout the day and sadly there
have been no dolphins since we entered Portuguese waters but that's just as well
due to the large numbers of fishing nets around. The latest estimated time
of arrival for Lagos is now 7am Friday morning as long as we keep the speed
we're doing. Still enjoying it all and looking forward to the last part of
the trip. Cheers, Kathy
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