15:58.29N 39:08.79W
Tioram 4
Tina & Tony
Wed 2 Dec 2009 15:40
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Wednesday 2nd December, 11:30am
You just know that you're in for an entertaining
night when 10 minutes before the dinner you've been cooking for the past 2 hours
(it should take 30 minutes but when you spend at least twice as long recovering
all the ingredients after they've decamped to the other side of the cabin for
the umpteenth time) and the guys on deck have spotted the first squalls of the
night. These are basically isolated weather systems that lead with an area of
strong wind and then followed by rain, not normally a problem if you see them
and prepare in time. At night we rely on the radar to pick these up, and it is a
matter of judging their track (normally SE to NW) as to whether they will hit us
and so need to reef down and await the inevitable soaking!
Anyway dinner and the freshly baked banana and mars
bar bread was almost ready (we told you all before that we're on hard
rations!!), when the call was made to go on deck as we had squalls approaching
at an increasing rate. One hit us with a few gusts of 30 knots, but nothing
major, followed by a couple of minutes of refreshing rain and was very
welcome after the stifling heat below decks caused by an incident earlier in the
day.Quite a number of squalls passed through the
area during the night and we were constantly tracking them until 1-2am, only
then could we relax a little.
Back to the incident earlier in the day. Mike Tina
and myself were off watch, but just about getting up for lunchtime and watch
change, either in the heads or on deck, hatches were open to allow some breeze
to cool us down, when we suddenly feel the boat round up sharply followed by the
the cry of "Big Wave". At which point, those of us down below hear water hitting
the deck and begin streaming in through the open hatches. For those of us
showering in the heads it wasn't too much of a problem, but it also flooded
the cockpit and a torrent spued into the aft cabins drenching the occupants and
their bedding. Supposedly the autopilot couldn't cope with a rogue wave, but we
secretly think that it was Moira's ploy to get us out of bed as the snoring
levels had become unbearable!! This is certainly one to be debated
over a couple of rum punches in Rodney Bay.
From the plotter this morning, it looks like we're
well over half way and only another 1200 miles to go - 8 days, making it 10th or
11th December and on course for our predicted 18 day run. The conversations on
the night watches will inevitably come around to first drink or first meal
onshore, not that we're wishing for this to end but was just a taboo subject
before the halfway mark. Will let you know the results of the poll in the coming
days!!
Despite this constant rolling motion, that makes
you feel as though you're in a washing machine 24 hours a day, all on board are
well and in good spirits.
On a final note, the whole crew of Tioram want to
send their best wishes to the crew of Pelican who were moored next to us in Las
Palmas. Yesterday they were forced to issue a mayday due to a failure in their
rig and in the early hours of this morning abandoned her and were rescued by a
merchant vessel. There appears to have been quite a number of abandonments
or retirees this year and I think that it reminds us all that we are crossing
one of the major oceans of the earth and is not always going to be the "gin and
tonic run" that it is sometimes known as.
Love to all back at home.
Al, Moira, Mike, Tina, Pat and
Tony
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