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18/2045
Here's a warts and all sail change. If you're enjoying your
breakfast, perhaps you should leave it till later. It's about 8 pm and I've
just laid me head on the pile of old socks and fleece jackets that constitutes
my pillow or so it seems when I'm awake
again because Berri is beefing about the wind strength and the #2 we have up.
The rather nice bowl of Nathan's Chefsway dried bow tie pasta (my favourite)
I'd had about an hour previously was down there in it's little bucket of acid
doing whatever stomachs do and not comfortable.
So wriggle shimmy and glide and into - today anyway - lovely dry party
gear and really stir the pasta. Pete says it's cold and drizzling so put extra
fleecy waistcoat underneath jacket and wear balaclava under hood. Michelin man
and sweaty already. Up we go and it's just as the man said - cold driving
drizzle, nasty. Drop the 2, run the sheets, tie them onto the inner forestay,
Pete goes to get pliers for recalcitrant hank while I sit feeling bilious on
the pitching foredeck. Help with hank, lying across wet sail and holding spray
can while Pete works hank with pliers. Take can and pliers back to cockpit down
the obstacle course along the lee side and return to foredeck while Pete
finishes rolling up the 2. Eventually fight the 2 into its bag and into the
hatch, tie the sheets on to the 4 and P hanks on while I go back to the
halyard. Pull it up, tummy by now boiling with anger, make it all fast and wind
on the sheet. Serious hard work and abdominal muscles in full stride bracing
the shoulders and arms. Really sweating under all the gear, even in cold and
rain, and feeling dreadful. Go below to resume sleep - just manage to get gear
off before expiring with the heat and now I'm sitting here feeling puky, sleep
impossible and about to be back on watch. It's quite often like this, I expect
for Pete as well, but we can't choose the time to change sail. Usually better
to cool down on deck before coming down but too dank and dismold tonight.
Should have anyway. Bleah! A cup of mouse strength tea, perhaps, to subdue the
collywobbles.
Decided to forego the tea and I'm having it now. With 3 McVities
dunkers. Noice. Everything changes so fast here - we go from 40kt astern to 0
to 25 from the NE to NW to W in a few hours and to make real progress, someone
has to be dressed and ready to go on deck at any time and at least adjust the
sails and keep Berri heading roughly East. My estimate of 42 days to Freo is
likely to be wildly out based as it was on a daily run of 120 miles E. Not
going to happen - I think we will be snaking along at about 5 knots average but
all over the place. Todays run at 0900 will be interesting. More likely to be
50+ days. Gloom - but We Shall Overcome.
Just been up making a 60 degree course change. Cold. Fluffy cu
overcast. very low, with gaps. Sunrise an hour or so away on the starboard bow,
silvery blue grey sky silhouetting hard grey edge of cloud to starboard, moon
setting on port quarter - orange yellow glow behind mottled wispy cloud. Just
wish we could point at the sun! Black shapes of birds all around. wind still
backing - may have to gybe and put the pole on the 4.
0845 - went to bed and couldn't sleep and the nasties went
through pussy cat like and we're back in the sun for a bit. no sleep for the
wicked - we put the poles on and now we're twinned with the 4 + 5.
i don't intend this to become a litany of difficult and
ultimately boring sail changes - i'm trying to put together a typical day for
yez all. at 0900, i do the daily fix and work out the days run so here goes -
water temp below 10 degrees.
db 105, 5126 freo, 6157 secape, gps 114 so we wiggled around a
bit as expected, day 60, 50 to sec. sunrise now around 0430 utc which is a good
sign. generator still going - it seems not to work any more below about 5 knots
- friction i suppose.
birds all around - not as many, but two or three medium sized
albatrosses. i think we are too far north for the wonderful wanderers but we
may get lucky. lets see whether
here we go again. wind back to 35, ssw, 4 + 5 off and stowed, 2
storm jibs poled out. big swell from sw with cross swell - cant pick it. rain
squalls, intermittent sunshine, alternate diamonds and dirty washing in the
machine.
1100 - wind now steady 40+ kt - big seas building behind - berri
behaving but quite a wild scary ride - have a 3 minute film of it - hope it
works. can feel big surging rushes as we take off down waves. spume and froth
racing past the kitchen window - must be back in the bus shelter. still no usable
contact today with
steady 50+ - gusting 60 - just taken both poles and one jib off
in huge breaking waves - dangerous work - berri sliding haphazardly off the
sides - survival mode for the time being. shit i wish i could talk to
big slashing surges and rolls outside - making 8+ knots at times
- storm jib gybes with some rolls - kevvo struggles it back. making a cup of
tea - we're both up and half partied in case we have to go out again. doesn't
seem to be easing and there's another one behind it.
50 days of this will be a barrel of laughs.
Later
my cup of tea tastes of mushroom soup. erk.
just had the cockpit filled by a big roller. no sign of ease - should go
thro very fast at this wind speed.
Later still
this feels like cape horn all over. still hitting 60, savage
short breaking seas, at least half mast height. very nasty. not in the
brochure. grab bag prepared with epirb, satphone, gps, medicinal potions. grey
knuckles in evidence. and there's anther one to come. we're trying to climb
north to get a bit further away from the next one but v. slow. will try to gett
sailmail msgs tonight, if unable, pse satcom anything important.
almost time for daily consultation with dr gordon. wooohooo.
easing slightly outside - 45 - 50 have managed to pull in a grib and 2
mailcalls - absolutely amazed at the generosity of all y'all who have sent us
donations - have no words - me yet. thank you all . we will put it towards
the satcomc account and try to stay in touch
all the way.. i'm assuming that you would rather not have your names in
lights on the website but i'm sure steve
can organise a list if needed. am also in touch with sailmail
as for the rest - i think that we should be able to keep the
batteries charged all the way, with or without the generator, which is still
giving some charge. we would prefer to go to
malcom, thanks for c/s and mmsi - i know how to use it - all to
do with new ais systems. ours is 503039300.
timj - thnks for ct info - we hope to avoid it but really useful
if things go pearshaped. kind thought. diana, yer a gem. terry and susie - fancy freckles it is kids -
just where the sun shines..
and hi to everyone else who wrote - you have no idea how it
helps to get your messages in this sort of nastiness.
it does have its compensations. have just spent half an hour
wedged at galley eating cheese and ryvita and hilary's mum's wonderful chutney
and watching the waves crashing past - all rolling forwards at least twice as
fast as us - but the birds - wow - the black topped guy with the splodges in
particular - he'd come down close, facing into wind, wings spread just outside
our niagara of a wash and run along the surface - little feet whirring, wings
curved down, rounded face looking down. and the storm petrels look like little
balls of black and white fluff as they jing and swerve and just flollop. the
bigger petrels fly down the wavefronts into wind and do spectacular wingovers
and race down the backs of the waves.
time to wake pete - he'd even sleep through a consultation.
we're planning a special one for trafalgar day.
Now easing but still some big waves amplifying across the swell
and smiting us might blows upon our tender sides. There should now be up to a
day of relative calm then it's on again bigtime from the north, backing
Limited contact with Sailmail but will continue to use when
possible.
Hot meal earlier - can of Asda chunky chicken in indeterminate
cream sauce with can of corn and can of spuds absolute magic. That Pete is a
genius.
Will send this while we have contact.
To Lizzie, Joe and Harvey Rowles - our youngest fans ever,
average age about three - Hello! I expect you are all tucked up in snozzy warm
pyjams with - who?? Do you have Teddies?
An old sock? I used to have a brown bear but I can't remember his name. We're
in a little boat in a VERY BIG ocean and it is wet and windy where we are - and
cold too. I sometimes go to bed with my gloves and beanie on! And my smelly
socks. My bed moves up and down and sideways all night - does yours? Look after
your dad and tell him a nice bedtime story! We hope you can come and see us one
day. Alex and Pete.
Not much to report immediately. It's been a long day and we're
still rolling wildly but the wind is back to about 25. We are heading NNE with
just the storm jib and will probably climb to about 3930 before turning east
again. That should ease the pain of
things to come just a little - we hope! A superb Turner night -
moon behind ridged craggy cloud with glowing edges, storm jib and rig and
Izzo's tell tales (what's left of them after Henry's bit and the wind) are
silhouetted against the mottled glow. Enough moonlight to reflect off the waves
and the breaking tops.
Yesterday was a long and fairly grim day, so it seems to have
been a good one to have tried to describe more or less as it happened. They are
not all like that, although there is often a fair amount of underlying tension
- in me anyway - when the wind is up around 40 kt. I won't bore you with the
same detail today - we've climbed nearly 70 miles to the north and at sunrise I
gybed the boat - easy with just the storm jib - and pulled up the main with its
first reef already set. Always a bit of a struggle solo because it usually has
to come up with the wind holding it against the shrouds and invariably
something gets caught at the cockpit end so have to tie off the halyard, go
back and sort and return - sometimes several times. Today, the big fourth
batten got itself twisted around in a loop of reefing line. Much backing and
slewing. But it's up and working, we're heading east again and for the mo,
all's right with the world. I've just changed Kevvo's windvane from small to
large. There's a big residual swell running - the principal one from the SW,
with another from the south and maybe a third from the NW.
We expect the wind to soften and then come in again at 40+ from
the NW and back to the west at the top of the next low some time tomorrow
morning. Being a bit further north may take some of the biff out of it.
Hallo Lizzie, Joe and Harvey. What are you having for breakfast?
I had some biscuits dipped in a cup of tea for mine. I think you have heard
about our metal friend called Kevvo - he's a sort of robot who steers the boat
when we need both hands and sometimes both feet as well to do other things. We
don't think there are any pirates out here but he looks out for them too. He's
steering now and I expect he's hoping a metal princess will appear one day out
of the misty sea so he can run away and live happily ever after - I hope not
because we need him! Your dad says he is reading you a book about the Nullabor
- I'd like to read that! - soon, I hope, we will be sailing along past the
Nullabor across the bottom of Australia.
Allan C, thanks for watchkeeping system - we're pretty much
stuck in a routine after nearly ten months at sea but we'll think about it. It
certainly looks sensible and if it works for you... May we post your note on
the website please - I think all the sailors should see it.
Yesterday was a long and fairly grim day, so it seems to have
been a good one to have tried to describe more or less as it happened. They are
not all like that, although there is often a fair amount of underlying tension
- in me anyway - when the wind is up around 40 kt. I won't bore you with the same
detail today - we've climbed nearly 70 miles to the north and at sunrise I
gybed the boat - easy with just the storm jib - and pulled up the main with its
first reef already set. Always a bit of a struggle solo because it usually has
to come up with the wind holding it against the shrouds and invariably
something gets caught at the cockpit end so have to tie off the halyard, go
back and sort and return - sometimes several times. Today, the big fourth
batten got itself twisted around in a loop of reefing line. Much backing and
slewing. But it's up and working, we're heading east again and for the mo,
all's right with the world. I've just changed Kevvo's windvane from small to
large. There's a big residual swell running - the principal one from the SW, with
another from the south and maybe a third from the NW.
We expect the wind to soften and then come in again at 40+ from
the NW and back to the west at the top of the next low some time tomorrow
morning. Being a bit further north may take some of the biff out of it.
Hallo Lizzie, Joe and Harvey. What are you having for breakfast?
I had some biscuits dipped in a cup of tea for mine. I think you have heard
about our metal friend called Kevvo - he's a sort of robot who steers the boat
when we need both hands and sometimes both feet as well to do other things. We
don't think there are any pirates out here but he looks out for them too. He's
steering now and I expect he's hoping a metal princess will appear one day out
of the misty sea so he can run away and live happily ever after - I hope not
because we need him! Your dad says he is reading you a book about the Nullabor
- I'd like to read that! - soon, I hope, we will be sailing along past the
Nullabor across the bottom of Australia.
Allan C, thanks for watchkeeping system - we're pretty much
stuck in a routine after nearly ten months at sea but we'll think about it. It
certainly looks sensible and if it works for you... May we post your note on
the website please - I think all the sailors should see it. Two handed Watch System
These logs seem to be rather Alex centred - because, I suppose,
they more or less follow the gyrations of my undisciplined mind - but Pete is
out there too - as i write, he is on the foredeck taking down the storm jib and
setting the 4. When he's ready, I will go up and work the halyard for him and
then I'll go to bed for a bit. Pete is writing a teriffic journal which he
reads me bits of. We will get it transcribed when we get back and integrate it
with these logs for The Book. Steve has everything date stamped including your
emails so it will be a week or three of sitting at a terminal and two columns
of files on a big screen and integrating entry by entry. Tedious but, I think,
ultimately worthwhile. Thanks to the person who told us about the authors'
website - was it Caro? The madding crowd becomes a blur when I'm a bit knackered
- still amazed by it all and your generosity with both money and personal
thoughts and ideas. I think we will have to have two coming home parties - one
in Oz and perhaps one in the UK so that we can meet as many of youse as
possible and say thanks personally. Would that work? If so, where and how do we
communicate? Worth thinking about?
Pete has just worked the halyard all by himself. Stalwart
fellow. Makes a big difference - the boat is now balanced and Kevvo isn't
sweating in the yoke quite so much. So I can go to sleep for a bit. Will
continue this with the 0900 fix.
3934 01006 20/0900 61/49
DB 100 gps 120; 6133 SEC, 5089 Freo, Not a good day for progress
- we are only 24 miles closer to SEC. Mostly the climb to the north. Now have
full main and 2. Almost no wind, as expected.
More fame: UK Yachting World 19th Oct: http://www.yachtingworld.com
We're in mega-wallow with no wind and huge SW swell with the
others across it. Seemed a good time to use a litre of precious diesel to
charge the battery fully and move us forward a few miles. Expect some wind this
afternoon from the NW.
It is about to be Trafalgar Day in Tonga, NZ Oz and points west
as the day progresses. At some time we will dust off Nelson's portrait, now
getting a bit tatty at the edges - and broach the rum bottle in his memory and
of all those who died that day.
Will try to give Cape Town Radio a courtesy call later as well -
we are about 500 miles SW of them. Still 450 to the barn door, but the next few
days' westerlies should fix that. The satcom forecast for the area says 25 - 45
so we're on again, as expected.
We have just witnessed a Convocation of Albatrosses - there are
about 10 of them around us, medium sized, dark grey on top of the wings white
tails and heads, lighter grey under wings, white belly. Yellow beaks, I think,
with a line back from the eyes. The bigger ones have a light brown chinstrap.
They all decided to settle on the water 30 metres astern - I tried to film them
but without much success - there's too much wallow going on. But they are
superb to watch and they hoon in just over the stern telling us to chuck them some
fish.
We had a small Trafalgar-Day-on-the-Dateline rum for the dead on
both sides and we're due for another in our own timezone tomoz. Would a' been
nice to have been in Port Stanley - JMB, hope you have a good one.
And we've just had our evening G&T as the sun set almost
directly astern behind some formless soft grey cloud that gradually emerged
into ridges and layers as the sun gave it some backlight. Not a lot of attitude
there - we were expecting - and I think
will still get - some more serious biff out of it but it may have slowed down a
bit. Still a huge swell and 40 kts for a couple of days over the top of it will
be something straight from the Examiner.
There's a new Albatross - lighter coloured, with a white head
and beak, light grey wings with white slashes about a third of the way out and
dark tips under the wings. Maybe 2.5metre span - about as big in the body as a
small goose.
Fenwick - your erudition constantly amazes - where have you been
hiding it? Is this a manifestation of The Cringe? Perhaps if you were to shave
once a week or so and wash occasionally, people would give you the respect your
obvious talents deserve. Say G'day from us at the Lord Howe briefing - the
first we've missed for a long time - and Hi to Campbell and Craig and Clive and
all on the Island. Good luck with the shirt auction.
Mark - thanks for port info - I'd forgotten about Albany but
that's clearly the way to go if we do need to call in. Steve will forward your
info as we get closer. Thanks re the Ampair - we've got all the bits - wind
kit, towing frame etc - all we really need is the actual generator body. Ours
is still putting out some charge and every day gets us closer. I think that
with careful conservation, we will make it across, even using sailmail and the
HF and might manage direct to Hobart. Far too far out to speculate. We've yet
to pass Africa.
Lizzie and Joe and Harvey - Kevvo says Hi - in his tinny and
rather squeaky voice. He'd wave as well except that his hands are holding the
tiller lines really tight so he doesn't let go. No princesses yet, though a big
seabird called an albatross nearly pooed on him yesterday.
20/2200 and the wind is coming in - 25 - 30 now and we've
dropped the main and set the 4 in anticipation of quite a bit more. But we're
heading east, 400 to the barn door and the I.O.
Another salute - a week early because I want it out there before
Steve leaves for the UK. This one is to a couple of guys without whom all this
could never have happened. Stephen Jackson in Sydney and Malcolm Robinson in
Hobart take it in turns to run the website - it owes its entire existence to
these guys. They are berri@berrimilla.com and anyone who has sent us an email
via the website has talked to one of them. You can join me in my roar of
applause by sending them smileys at berri@...Thanks also to Tricia and Megan
for accepting with the equanimity that they do, the disruption that all this must
cause.
Malcolm: He turned up on the jetty a few years ago at the Royal
YC of Tasmania and asked if we knew of anyone who needed a crew. A likely lad
we thought - jump on, mate. Since then he's done umpteen Hobarts, and Lord
Howes and we've learned to love him dearly. He's a sailor's sailor - great
downwind helmsman, not as good as me ;-) upwind in Berri but in his own boat
probably about 10 % better. Courage is not about blind leaps but about
calculated risk and facing known - or unknown - fears with ones eyes open. I
remember a wild kite ride on one of the Hobarts - I bet Mal does too - where we had the assy up in about 35 knots
right, right out on the edge - swell building, Mal steering, averaging about 7
knots, catching waves and scared absolutely fartless. So was I. I could see his
grey knuckles and was trying not to interfere cos I knew he was doing better
than I could ever hope to do. He was cold and wet and - at last at one level,
enjoying himself despite the shivers. We had a near wipeout with a bigger wave
and a simultaneous gust and I pulled the plug - kite down and a relieved Mal -
but he'd have stayed there if I'd asked him to. I think that was the ride that
lifted us into third place that year. He's a bit of a whizz with nerdery and he
is responsible for the tracking charts and the photo albums on the website
along with lots of enormously helpful advice. Thanks Mate, for heaps and good luck with the new boat.
Stephen: what can I say. A perfectionist for a start - he is an
accredited Olympic measurer and measured the Sydney olympic marathon course for
SOCOG to within a few nanometres - double checked by another guy from the UK.
Also stark raving bonkers. He's skydived out of a Russian Antonov cargo plane
onto the North Pole, climbed various mountains in Nepal and South America, has
run 42 marathons with a best time of 2:32:17 (BASTARD! mine's 2:41.49, so he'd
have been 2k ahead of me), raced cars and motor bikes and push bikes, is a nerd
with an MBA from AGSM, working towards a PhD. and has worked all over the world
in various IT jobs. He sailed in the '03 Hobart with us - that's him on the
website in the big white hat, (Mal is behind him in a harness, I think) he is
our beloved El Pres in the Sydney Striders, is married, has 3 kids and is off
to the UK on Nov 22 to marry one of them off and, incidentally, to collect our
RORC award from Janet and Caro and bring it back. If anyone wants to buy him a
beer while he's over there, berri@berrimilla.com will find him until he leaves.
I suggest an inaugural Convocation of UK Berri Webbers at Shepherd's Tavern in
Shepherd's Market off Curzon St in London one day in November. In his spare
time, he spends 24 hours a day running the website for us and keeping all y'all
up with the news. Steve, I dips me lid bigtime. Some debts of gratitude go way
beyond words. Thanks.
Local Trafalgar day. We are feeling a bit embarrassed by all
your continuing generosity. It is wonderful and we are grateful beyond words
but, all the same, unexpected and rather special. Thank you all. It seems we
may need to use the SatCom C to stay in touch rather more than I had hoped and
I will use your donations exclusively to fund that expense. If there is
anything left when we get home, we'll put it on the bar at the coming home
party(s?).
We are just north of the Panzarini Seamount and west of the much
bigger Schmitt-Ott seamount. The seabed here is about 4500 metres down and
these seamounts rise almost vertically to around 2500 metres. This is very like
the formations on which Lord Howe Island and Ball's Pyramid are perched. I
can't pan out far enough on the laptop to see the whole formation but it looks
like the remains of a massive crater - volcano or asteroid strike?
The wind is back - 35+ and, so far, not too savage. We're
running off slightly under just the #4, surfing every now and then. Grey bleak
dawn, rain, amorphous cloud, low, baleful and determined. We may have a couple
of days of it - I'm hoping to be able to pull in a grib when I try to send this
- if not, then the Satcom forecast which is text rather than graphic so less
user friendly.
DMG 97 - day's run 108, gps 115.
Steve I've turned off the satcom to conserve but will use it as
necessary. Will stop messing about with numbers in the DB - in future, now that
I can do a reasonable estimate, I will just give you DMG to SE Cape and the
other 2 numbers to show how efficient or otherwise we have been. [62 / 48]
Lizzie, Joe ad Harvey ellooo! Do you want to know why
Berrimilla wanders all over the ocean instead of going in a straight line? It's
that Kevvo again, playing games with the Albatrosses which keep trying to bomb
him with poo - and an Albatross is a BIG bird so it's got buckets of the stuff
but it is a very clever eater so it doesn't need to poo very often - maybe once
a month - and when Kevvo sees one coming he gives one of the tiller lines a
little tweak and Berrimilla gives a little wiggle, old Alby glides past and
there we are - wiggling along. Albatrosses sleep while they are flying. If they
didn't, they would get very tired because they fly for days and days. If there
was a very tired Alby and it wanted to lie flat on its back with its wings
spread out for a snooze (which it wouldn't, but it's a nice idea!) then it
would need a bed about twice as long as yours for each wing and another one in
the middle for its body - they are very big. And talking of Alby poo - which we
were, they don't poo in browm lumps like people but in long white squirts.
Penguins do the same, and because at times penguins stand around a lot you can
easily tell where one has been standing because there is a big fan of long
white squirts on the ground, usually all around a muddy patch where its feet
were. Good fun. If that's all too scatological, Jez, holler and I'll tone it
down.
And if anyone else want's to know why we can't sail in a
straight line, it's cos I had to invent a bedtime story. So there!
Can't believe it but the wind seems to be dropping out.
Definitely not in the guide book. We're poled out with the cutdown and the 5
expecting 30+ and its sunny, gently wafting breeze, clear blue sky. Probably
not for long, as we've learned.
Local time Trafalgar day rum about to happen. We called RANSA on
the batphone to wish them a good party and to say thanks for their generosity -
sorry guys, I don't know who I spoke to because it was an awful connection but
it was nice to be able to say G'day to youse all. Also Don P, but you were out.
Liz - flying loo seats are indeed a health hazard. I've often
wondered how it might be possible to make life easier for women in boats and I
thought that the women who fly in the Space Shuttle probably have special seat
gadgetry attached, of course to some sort of suction - but the basic gadgetry
might be adaptable to a marine toilet. Drum roll for some dreadful puns about
certain boat fittings with very male specific names.... Anyway, I'll ask the
question, if the answer isn't already on the NASA website. Mal??
We're struggling on a bit here. Back to NW 35 kts, huge
following sea, storm jib only and only making SE. Should back to W later today.
Bloody uncomfortable, noisy, jerky and unpleasant. It has just started to rain
- another cold, bleak dawn No wonder the old sailors called this the Cape of
Storms. Will we never get past Africa? We're in warm water - 16 degrees - so must be the Agulhas
current mixing with the S. Atlantic.
Malcom - tis is a big empty ocean. As far as I know, we have
'seen' only two ships since the Cape Verdes on AIS and we never actually saw
them visually. AIS works from a vhf signal transmitted on Ch 70 - mandatory for
all vessels over 300 dwt. We have a vhf aerial dedicated to it about a metre
and a half above the water on the pushpit and the range would be line of sight
to that aerial, so depends a bit on the transmitting aerial but not likely to
be more than about 20 miles max. In the English Channel, the screen was
cluttered with ships. The software tracks them and gives essential safety info
- CPA etc - as well as mmsi and destination, ships name, course, speed etc if
transmitted. We don't transmit, just listen, but we can send DSC messages after
receiving a hit - either general or specifically to the mmsi number to wake
them up - we hope!
Jennifer, good to have you back, Tim, watch those vapours! Bill
W, hope you had a good party, Maureen and Ralph - we look forward to meeting
you.
It has been said - I think - that when a person dies, a library
is lost. Underlying a lot of these idle ruminations - with apologies to the
goat - is a desire to trawl through the library and perhaps trail some of the
odder or more interesting bits before all y'all as a very non-captive audience.
Without wishing to be too pretentious and without any expectations, I'd like to
leave some of it as the seeds in your minds - to teach, to surprise, perhaps to
annoy, maybe disgust and I hope, always to stimulate. I know Pete feels the
same way and his journal does it with a lot more humour than I can, as I hope
you will all see eventually.
So to receive the sort of feedback we've just had from Mark
makes the sun shine on the bleakest of days. Like today. Thanks Mark, for
taking the time to put it all down and I'm beyond belief delighted that you
actually went looking for Kathleen Ferrier and, having found the record, were
moved by it in the same way as I have always been. And to all of you who have
hung in there for the journey, thanks as well - it is just possible that you
are, by not voting with your feet (fingers?), telling us that some part of the
message works for you. Or, perhaps, it's just morbid curiosity. But you're out
there and I'm moved to write - it's the immediacy of the experience that grabs
me - an idle thought transcribed and on its way so easily - something I just
can't do in longhand. Well, easily except for the exigencies of the bloody USB
thingy. I get about three crashes for ever five connects. Tedious.
This is very difficult to write. Berri is rising and falling
about 20 feet over each ordinary wave and much more over the bigger ones, with
the underlying swell making the whole world gyrate and tilt and roll and slew
and crash. I am sort of wedged at the nav table, knees locked underneath, but
my backside describes a semicircle around the seat with my knees as the pivot
and my shoulders often trying to go the opposite way. My wrists are - as much
as possible, the reference points, held tightly so the flesh welts against the
fiddle on the nav table with fingers sometimes within range of the keys. In a
fairground, you'd pay for this and probably hate it. What can I say?
Before I climbed up here, I spent a contemplative hour, midst
the howl and crash and niagara noises, real green water rushing past the
windows and the storm jib's quivering, sitting on the cabin floor, back to nav
table, feet braced across the boat against the locker under the sink. I had a
mug of coffee and went carefully through the dunking ritual (it's been a four
biscuit morning) and, perhaps for the first time, wished I wasn't here. There's
going to be a lot more of this in the next two months and I'm getting a bit
weary, I think. But the old farts will persist, persevere, push on and
overcome. Dr Cooper will soothe the savage breast in due course. Sir Malcolm
Sargent thought it was music that did that and said so one year at the Proms.
He didn't know the half of it!
back to 65+ knots. whole boat shuddering and shaking. wind at
shriek level. halyards vibrating like machine guns in gusts. pete wedged in the
bog, i'm making cajun spice potato cakes. trying to pull in a grib as well -
continuous bloody crashes. spbf. fix in an hour. 5 crashes in a row - basically
unable to transmit on hf. no sailmail, no grib. bugger. satcom cranking up
again.
250 to the barn door if we can keep it together. all a bit
tense.
going through the spice drawer for potato cake stuff - found a
cat hair - hallo cascade.
db: dmg 114, gps 106
(crashes) day's run 101 - all looks a bit fishy. 63/47 - also looking a bit
pear shaped. these storms were not in the equation. short burst of unshine -
wind temporarily back to 30+. managed to get the grib - three more days of this
followed by a high cell. unpleasant prospect. surface of sea has huge moving
white patches, massive wind lines, horizontal spray all glistening tn the
sunlight. consultaation was very welcome this morning. wendy p, we're saving
your specials - cape agulhas, half way across, cape leeuwin, se cape, iron pot.
will report.
waves shorter and steeper than cape horn - not as high - more savage and destructive, if that's
possible.
Ed: most messages from Berri are prefixed with some instructions
/ requests / advice / or just not for publication gnashing of teeth. The majority is for publishing, as in for
public consumption, but not all. For
example, this one came with:
Steve, i think i can go on working
it at very low fx which don't yet seem to crash the usb., so i might get
connected late in the (local) day and early in the morning and i will pick up
what i can. might improve after these storms have gone.
and then we are back to into update mode:
vera brittain writes vividly about how extreme adversity promotes
an extraordinary intensity of living. it would be crass to compare situations -
she was in field hospitals witrhin range of the guns - but i know exactly what
she means. we've had a constant 45+ ihitting 65 for about 24 hours - te seas
are now massive, white, seething masses of roiling crashing water - berri rides
most of it but we sometimes ger a broadside hat bodily lifts the boat and slams
us against the next wave. very frightening - lucky the freckles are so well polished - the amount of clenching going
on at the moment would severely damage a scruffy one. and we have at least
another three days of it, during which the seas will increase and the freckles
will no doubt continue their exercises. it is awful ust to have to sit it out
and take whatever hits us - not an unfamiliar situation but never pleasant. so
be prepared for a constant whinge from down here. if it stops, we're in
trouble..
the font in this satcom application is tiny and half thetime i
cant read what i've written because the boat is moving so violently so ally'all
will have to interpret some of the spelling mistakes. sorry
my potato cakes were a disaster - turned out not to set properly
and ended up as brown mashed potato. will try next time without oil or egg and
see it that works. the sky seems to be closing in - its getting very dark out
there - what will it bring. huge crash, bow lifted round about 60 degrees. wish
i was an engineer and understood something about impulse loads on boats. mostly
the rig isnt stressed - onle when we get slammed and iy wats to keep going.
another one - and heavy rain and 70+ gust. barometer has dropped slightly.
almost constantly under water - hope it olds together. heavy driving rain - vis
down to yards - perhaps this is one of the fronts. there are apparently several
lows around us - out of the frying pan.... suddenly it stops 40 kts only -
bliss for a few moments. will keep these short and keep sending more frequently
that via sailmail. luxury and hang the expense..
trying to claw north as fer as we are able. ain't no place for
wimps down here.
it has eased for a bit - a gentle 40 + knots - and the sun is
out, low in the sky with a hard metallic light - intense blue grey sea with 100
metre seething milky trails roaring off behind the huge breaking waves. when we
get caught in one, berri starts almost underwater, shakes erself off and rolls
back down the frothy streak - the sound is quite different from the normal
crash - more a fierce hissing bubblung surge. the sun shines through the
breaking crests giving brilliant radiance - diamonds on a velvet cushion -
except they are moving at about 20 knots and have enormous power. still quite
violent movement but tolerable. moreto come though. we are able to climb north
for a bit, so may make life easier. i think dec 11 @ se cape is now a folorn
hope but we'll keep trying.
at the very height of the storm, in the worst gusts, a solitary
albatross hovered over the stern riding the fury, wingtips twitching to keep
station. wonderful sight.
After the storm - there's a calm peacefulness about 35 knots,
flat early sunlight, metallic grey blue sky, smaller warehouses rolling in from
behind and, eerily, at right angles from the side (I've just seen two breaking
crests creaming in towards us - one from the west and one from the north and
the point where they meet a steep pyramid of foamy power). Don't know whether
this is a lull or we've climbed over the worst of it. Anyway, we are looking at
the barn door again a bit under 200 miles ahead. We have a sort of horizon on
each side but the warehouses behind have their own moving sawtoothed breaking
presence that is never low enough to form a horizon.
I remember sitting in the cockpit yesterday in the midst of the
uproar and chaos - stomach knotted with that sort of mild foreboding - not fear
- that is always corroding the vitals but revelling in the majesty and
indifference of the seething blasting masses of water and wind. The storm jib
was set on a one metre strop, so the solid water was going underneath most of
the time but the almost solid spray was hitting the orange sail all the way up
and cascading down off it and blowing horizontally away under the foot and
around the leech. Marvellous - the sail was glistening even in the gery gloom
and broke into triumphant sparkling glory when the sun came out for a few seconds in a gap in the scud.
Football fields of white water undulating back from the breaking crests as the
waves passed under us. And noise - you always remember the noise - a roaring
shriek with spray buffeting the back of my hood and the hissing surge of tons
of water smashing past and over the cockpit. Halyards banging and whirring,
Kevvo's vane horizontal, quivering and shaking.and the continuous thump of the
hull throwing aside vast masses of water into sheets of spray - the upwind
sheet moving sideways, upwards and instantly curving back across the boat as
the wind reached it.
And I remembered the single hander who was lost recently down
here in one of these and was sad and the knotted foreboding felt like dread -
but the spectacle was so vividly alive and enveloping that in the end it
doesn't frighten. And there was the albatross - serene in 60+ knots, - head to
wind, looking down at me and laughing a lot.
It's a lot scarier at night though.
db: dmg 13, day's run 94, gps 114, 64/46
the schedule is beginning to thicken at the hips - i reckon we
are now about a week behind. generator persists in adding some charge but
getting noisier. will persevere with sailmail, but i think may be constrained to
lowest frequencies so only connect at local evening + dawn. usb now closes down
every time i transmit on anything higher than 10 megs. have just received
satcom mailcall from steve indicating satcom still working - small panic during
the night when i thought it had died as well.
sparkling day some low
cloud, 30+ knots and remains of huge swell - no longer threatening but retains
lots of attitude. we are occasionally surfing down the front of it with the 5 +
storm jib. slewing massively from side to side, magnified here at the nav table
towards the stern - very hard to stay put. typing this in sailmail so can see
font, will transfer to satcom if cannot transmit. cockpit a mess at daybreak
with tangled lines, crash pump awry, stowed gear displaced. there were some big
ones sloshing into it during the worst part of the storm - how long has it
lasted - seems we've been in it for days but perhaps not. kevvo magnificent.
now - big wave has just crashed across - deluge thro taped up
vent over sink, they hit with an awful bang and surge and the boat heels way
over. great powers fo recovery, so far. will send.
Ed: a satphone call at 1am Sydney time (1300UTC) to tell us that
they had been knocked down twice, computer has flown across the boat, with bits
flying everywhere, so comms severely limited.
As you can see, the comms have beenre-established
but still pretty
ordinary out there
just had 3rd knockdown - 7-0 -80 kty sea white vmast hi waves
viciuos breaks from al directions lost glasses cant see kwbd - 4th kdown/ will
just have to sit it out.. unfunny. love y'all.
We Are Not Amused. Full story later if this eventually blows
thro. We're still ok, minor damage. Running engin to charge. Will ring satphone
approx 0900 utc for any meaasges - if
poss long range forecast ta. Bloody long night - everything soaked with
condensation - didn't have time in fmth to replace insulation. diff to keep
computer dry. Satcop iffy, but will trty to keep turned on -pse send to both
tfn. still huge waves, nasty breaks. Love yez all.
Ed: 20 mins later
.
Will try quick blast while can. You'll have to interpolate aound
keyboard mistakes - good glasses still missing, also one sandal - how can you
lose a sandal?? First knockdown was serious - threw me through leecloth (lesson
1 - not srong enuf) across boat in welter of gear- boat a shambles but all
small stuff except big heavy draAWER UNDER NAV TABLE LIFTS IF BOAT ROLOLED TO
STBD AND launches. Pete ok, laptop went flying in later knockdown little
darling still running! Every wave potentially lethal thro night - much anal
clenching. Have stitched together a bunk using spectra, cable ties and blind
faith and should be ok - just had big crash - photos if poaa later. Having
berri brekky bacon sand in ryvita and Doctor to lubricate passage. bare poling
@ 3 kt NE
Schedule almost certainly stuffed - damn - will keep driving as
wx imporves. May try to stay further N so Malcom, poss of contact(did i say
that??)
Went around deck this am at dawn - moved banging halyards, put
more knitting on main - has big tear v low down near gooseneck - not
showstopper. Evidence of massive wave dumping onto cockpit - mob sling stove in
etc - engine recalcitrant - bled and managed to start - battery charged cant
make water on this tack in these conditions to do with geometry of seacocks
etc. (lesson 2)
Waiting for seas to abate - maybe! - then will try to sail.
Birds stillall around - image of albatross in storm still vivid.
still gusting 50 - last grib 3 days old indicates calm patch in
hi tomoz then another storm. Will keep trying to get north.
Ed: a satphone call from Alex
Still crappy, heading 080 magnetic at 3knts bare poling. The inside of Berri is as wet as the outside
condensation threatening the various electronics. Not fun any more, so time to go home.
Now. Still blowing 50 and no sign of
abating. Albie still laughing at us.
will someone please tell the examiner that enough is enough. she
is still dishing out a steady 50 kts, gusting 70 - truly alpine waves, marching
endlessly and relentlessly past. not much fun - but we're coping. thanks to all
who have written lovely to have your support in this little mess just been
catapulted sideways whole boat shuddering wind intermediate shriek, scream back
to howl. still cant read this font - still cant find good glasses using pair of
plastic fantastics. chris - p, not n, yay - mr monk in particular. chris n nice to hear from u too. cant sit here for
too long - have to keep fighting the condensation. i think we may get a bit of
a break tomoz but bloody usb wont let me transmit to get grib so no wx worth
speaking about. s african cape east forecast twaddles on about 25 knots pih, i say. and tush. wot a lot of
codswallop.
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