36 24N 15 09W
Osprey
John Bowering
Fri 19 Jun 2009 07:18
been pretty well beaten up by mother nature over the past 24 hours and
although the winds were only up to 30 knots the seas became very steep and
unpredictable. Osprey was quite comfortable under the reduced sail and was
smoking along at 7 plus knots. The same could not be said of the crew who
were hanging on for all they were worth. It is quit remarkable how
conditions can change in such a short time and this afternoon the front
causing the high winds went over us at 1400 and within 10 minutes the wind
had veered 45 degrees and dropped to under ten knots. The sea took a little
longer to die down and we now have an insignificant head wind and are motor
sailing again. Interestingly when we cleaned up the cockpit we found a good
collection of fish that had com aboard during the night - mostly small blue
ones. When we move the dinghy we will probably find another collection under
it. We also found we had a cracked casing on the fresh water pump which is
most unusual. It has curtailed our showers until we can fit the spare which
we have on board - its a fiddly job and we will need some relatively flat
seas to be able to do it successfully. The pump itself is straightforward
but there are a number of electrical connections that are awkward to access.
We are now starting to meet other shipping traffic as we get into the
Gibraltar Strait approaches and are having to be a lot more vigilant as a
result. We had a large yacht come passed us this morning - probably 130ft -
she was motor sailing and in the heavy seas seemed to be as much under water
as on top of it - at least we stay mostly dry on deck. The sun has also
returned and we are drying out quickly. Soup was the prediction for tonights
culinary delight but we may be able to revise that upwards as the seas
relax.
Optimism was misplaced - the blog was abandoned last night as shortly after writing the above we ran into what can only be described as a localised whirlwind similar to those seen in the USA. We went from 9 knots to 30 knots of wind almost instantly and the boat was on its beam ends in short order. Fortunately we were in the cockpit and were able to quickly run off the wind and start reefing sails yet again. It was an amazing sight as although we were in a maelstrom we could see relatively clear water nearer the horizon. With the engine flat out we motored due south until we got out of it. There was a clearly defined border as we crossed out of the whirlwind and we could look back from seas that were only 20 ft to seas a quarter of a mile away that were twice that size and whipped into white froth by the wind. Although we got clear of the localised storm the weather was still pretty dire and we motor sailed under 50% main and Genoa. Charles had only just got his head down when at 2200 the wind increased to over 30 knots and it took two of us what seemed a long time to get the Genoa furled. This is normally done by hand but this time we had to get the furling line onto a primary winch to obtain sufficient power. The main was then reefed until it was effectively a storm trysail and we were hove to with the engine holding us off the wind and waves. We then battened down the hatches and retired into the warmth to dry out. We have spent an uncomfortable night making no distance but holding our own against the wind and seas. At daylight the wind eased and the seas, whilst still big, are manageable and we have eased out the main and increased engine revs to get back to something like a course for Gib. We still have a head wind and it looks as though it will stay that way until we get to about 10 west so we have decided to gamble on the fuel and motor at medium revs to try and get there. That still gives us only 4 - 5 knots as we are bashing into the wind and seas. It looks like a hard few days working against wind and sea to get anywhere near the Straits but the only option to pushing on is to sit it out which might take a long time. The crew are now pretty tired and starting to hallucinate about dry land and cold beer.