Mark and Trish on the helm riding out the storm
Latitude; 37°09.3’S
Longitude; 139°07.7’E
Distance travelled in the last 24hrs; 47.9NM
Average speed; 1.9KN
Weather; SE force 5-6, clear blue skies, visibility good, 17.4°, sea state moderate – rough 4m swells
The afternoon continues with very rough conditions, every now and then you feel like it might be subsiding ever so slightly, to then get a large set of waves take you by surprise. The day continues as an easy going day with it being so hard to move around the ship. Most of the crew appear to make the most of the down time by catching up on some sleep or relaxing in the 20th century with a good book. I was mentioning the other day about the galley team and how hard they work in tough conditions, well today is a prime example. Whilst most of us are just clinging to anything and gently side stepping around the ship and the weather is blowing gale winds, these guys are cooking up a storm of their own! We are now heading closer to land as the forecast is showing Easterly winds as of tomorrow from 1015 onwards. We will motor for the rest of the night and by 0830 tomorrow we will be in the right position to shut down the iron staysails and set the sails for the last chapter of our adventure.
By 0000 the wind shows genuine signs of subsidence and gradually over the next few hours the winds decreases to a force 5-6 (approx. 22knots,) however although the wind has decreased it always takes the sea swell longer to abate. By morning the seas are feeling easier on the soul, although it is still a case of a couple of steps forward, one step backwards. We are back to normal ships routine this morning so everyone has the joyous ‘Happy hour’. The bad news comes that the weather prediction for the Easterly winds today have now been pushed forward a day and that they are now not forecast for tomorrow (Saturday.) So it leaves us with the iron staysails for another 24 hours.
Holding on tightly
At morning tea I find a group huddled around the fruit bowel reading a letter and taped next to it some treasure. On Sunday the ship will pass by the ‘Queen Mary II’ where it has been arranged that we will have a liaison with her, she is also undergoing a circumnavigation of Australia the only difference being that she will do it 385 days quicker than we will. In light of this Glenn has decided to place a wager, the first person who spots the ‘Queen Mary II’ will win the said treasure.
All’s well.
Sheeting in the main staysail is a team efforts in strong winds