 |
8:24 PM Wed 24 Dec 2008 GMT
It's christmas eve and for the sailors racing the Portim?o Global Ocean Race it will be one of their most memorable Christmas's ever. A cold, crisp day deep in the Southern Ocean far from friends and family; indeed far from anywhere. The good news is that as the special day approaches there is a lull between storms and some time to ready the boat for gale number 3, and if all goes well, time for a nip of Christmas cheer and a toast to loved one's back home.
Since Christmas is a time for reflection and taking stock of ones life, there is much to be grateful for. All the boats have come unscathed through a brutal Southern Ocean storm and if that does not give you perspective on your life, nothing will.
For the Brits aboard Team Mowgli there were some very tense moments as the height of the gale raged. Co-skipper Jeremy Salvesen relates the drama in his daily blog included here unedited. 'Well, we knew we were going into a big storm but nobody told us it was going to be hurricane force winds,' he wrote. 'Overnight the wind and the sea just grew and grew and by this morning it was a steady 50 knots and gusting higher. Throughout the morning the wind continued to build, reaching a peak of just under 80 knots - well into hurricane territory.' Team Mowgli, the southernmost boat in the fleet would have received the brunt of the storm, but that does not mean that the other boats got away lightly.
Salvesen's log continues. 'The sea state was quite incredible, monstrous rollers you could easily hide a house behind and spray so thick and heavy it was like a fog. We were down to reefed staysail and three reefs in the main but this was clearly too much and the staysail started to flog. David was on the helm so Jeremy went to the foredeck to take the sail down and secure it safely. No easy task in 65 knots of wind with literally tons of water crashing over you. Indeed so much water that the auto-inflate mechanism on my lifejacket triggered making life much more difficult for me but providing some amusement for David!
'We then decided to put the fourth reef in the main and sail under this alone. We were still sailing at over 22 knots surfing down enormous breaking waves - ones that any board surfer would give his eye teeth for! Every now and then one of these breakers would catch the boat side-on sending her spinning into a broach which proved to be very hard to sail out of. Then one of these huge waves broke over the stern of the boast, nearly taking David with it. It did, however, cause some damage at the back of the boat, ripping the aft pushpit out of the deck on both sides, washing away the jonbouy, knocking out all our satellite comms and leaving four holes in the transom allowing some water into the boat.
'We were now under serious pressure and felt in danger. It wouldn't take much more of that to push us and Mowgli beyond our limits. Jeremy called Josh Hall, the Race Director, on the handheld Iridium to report the situation and he advised a sail change to storm jib and no main. This improved the balance of the boat and we felt better that someone knew what was going on. We were still in over 60 knots of wind and hard pressed. Although very slowly the wind started to back off, the seas were now at the height of their fury. Three hours later Jeremy reported in to Josh that everything was now under control. Within five minutes we suffered our most serious knockdown sending Jeremy flying from one side of the cabin to the other followed by the cooker, contents of cupboards, anchor chain and all our spare drinking water. Utter chaos!
'We then took turns for a couple of hours sleep followed by a bit of a tidy up and basic repairs to the transom before heading back to bed for some proper rest. We haven't eaten all day and now have no cooking facilities - we will fix that in the morning.'
There is real drama in Salvesen's email. Team Mowgli is a relatively small boat. You know your boat is small when the wave heights far exceed your boat length! For the German team on Beluga Racer, currently lying third on the water, things seems realtively calm by comparaison but they too had their share of difficulties as skipper Boris Herrmann related in his log. 'Good morning everybody,' he wrote. 'I know onboard Mowgli they have Dug and baked potatoes with champagne today. I think they deserve it after obviously having sustained the deep south dive and the front with a 100 miles lead. This place is cold but I enjoy the heaps of birds we have all the time around. Installing a heater I do not regret. Inside the cabin we can get from 9 degrees Celsius to 19 in 15 minutes.
'Our resume of the last days is not perfect for us. We broke one big spinnaker and five battens. We had to take the mainsail down twice. I wish you all a lucky seaman's hand, no breakages and good spirits! We will stand up with our glasses of Jameson's Irish Whiskey (a gift from Josh and Brian) at 1800 UTC today and drink on the 8 of us remaining in the race as well as you guys making this race happen from the land side and we will not forget you Peter and Lenjohn. Finally a few drops will be given to the sea as well.'
portimaorace.com/
by Brian Hancock
|
|
Hamilton Island, QLD
