Wednesday November 15th, 2000
Location |
The Roaring
Forties, approaching the Furious Fifties |
Latitude |
48.19S |
Longitude |
167.18W |
Course |
SE |
Wind |
SW 20 to 25 knots |
Sea |
Moderate |
Air temp |
6 deg C |
Sea temp |
9.5 deg C |
It’s 0430 and
the dawn is here as I start to write this – it’s been a clear night with a few
puffy cumulus clouds about and a somewhat watery moon. The wind has eased
overnight to the point where we now need more sail, but will wait until the
change of watch at 0600 before we take out the reefs in both the foresail and
mainsail. Looking up through the overhead window from where I sit in the
communications room there is a clear blue sky–which makes a change to the angry
squalls and ragged clouds of only a few hours ago.
Yesterday
gave us our first Southern Ocean gale with squalls of over 50 knots in the
rain. The seas quickly became quite large, with breaking crests. Seamaster
would at times be right on the top of the crest of a breaking wave of foaming
white water – but most times the waves went harmlessly underneath. It seemed as
though the bow of our vessel was in the air on one side of the crest, while the
stern was in the air on the other. We had only a few big dollops of ocean on
the deck, one of which went over the saloon windows at the same time as it
filled up Don’s sea boots–he was standing on deck checking the rig soon after
we had decided to re-hoist the mainsail just before dinner last night. Much of
yesterday was spent with only a reefed foresail and headsail set – with
Seamaster marching south-eastwards at 9 to 10 knots – not fast but under the
conditions, about right. Compared to the race yachts that I have been on down
here in the roaring forties, being on Seamaster is like being on an aircraft
carrier. We had a slow night last night, still under reduced sail, as we waited
for further squalls, but the winds gradually abated.
Jeanno had a
day in the galley yesterday, whilst Tracey joined our watch on deck. This
worked well for both of them and Ollie is keen to try his hand at the pots and
pans on Sunday – he already has the cook books out and is wondering what to
produce. The guest “chefs” are, however, restricted to what Tracey says they
can use from the supplies we have onboard.
The albatross have been with us all the
time, no matter what the weather. The most common type are now the Royal
Albatross – the biggest variety of seabird there is with a wing span that can
get to 3.5 meters. Most of the ones we have seen are probably not much more
than 2 meters across, but they are still large birds. This is their home, not
ours. And they are the most graceful flyers imaginable. They can fly extremely
fast, or almost hover in one place, all without flapping their wings. They use
the up-currents of air from the waves and swells of the ocean to give them
“lift”. When turning at low level they bank over so that one wing-tip is just
brushing the surface of the sea. They quite often land nearby and watch us sail
past – they seem very buoyant and are quite at ease sitting on the surface of
the sea, even with breaking waves about them.