Author: Scott
In our last journal entry I think I was bragging about having delicious barbecued chicken at sea because there wasn't much wind. Who was that Scott, Pam and Starship and what happened to them? This Tasman Sea is a sneaky little beast, she reels you in and then wham she pounces and unleashes herself upon you.
On Friday the day after our nautical barbecue feast the winds remained light. We continued to plod our way northwest, knowing it was the right thing and dutifully following the route laid out for us by our weather routing service. It is a hard thing to watch your progress at only 50% of what it could be if you just pointed the boat at Sydney and went straight for it. The problem however, is all the illusive currents shifting and swirling hidden beneath the surface of the sea. Not to mention that if we were to head straight for Sydney and a north wind begins to blow, we might be making our landfall in Tasmania, and after my ribbing about the existence (or possibly inexistence) of the Tasmanian Devil, I would probably be locked up in a room full of the buggers directly after stepping onto the dock in Tasmania.
We filled the day with the normal boat chores and emails correspondence. We polished off the Tequila Chicken leftovers for dinner and noticed the wind was beginning to pickup. Now, its not that we weren't aware that a "nasty little low" was brewing south of us, because we were well informed with weather reports and even a special weather update from Ken and Beth on "Eagle's Wings", but we have been in heavy weather and were not all that overly concerned. Before dark we reefed down our mainsail to the second reef and reefed in our jib to a smaller working jib dimension, then we settled into the nightly watch routine.
I closed my eyes at 21:00 and awoke at 22:00 to a completely different environment. The seas were boiling and rushing by with the boat at an 18-degree heel on a starboard tack. I could hear things flying in the forward cabin as Starship randomly rearranged herself and our possessions. Just then Pam called down and said we should do something to reduce our speed, and I was on my feet headed to the cockpit.
The boat was raging along and jumping over swells at nearly 9 knots, almost as if she was taunting the Tasman and saying, "come on give me some more, I can take it". Well, we didn't give her the chance. We reefed in her jib to a small storm jib size and Starship was bridled back to a saner 6 knots. Wow, the waves intensified quickly and had grown to at least 4 meters while I was sleeping. The wind had also escalated from a solid 12 - 15 knots to 25 - 30. Pam and I were serenaded by an orchestra of boat noises that were still foreign to us. There is a distinct difference between sailing at 5 knots in pleasant conditions to bashing along in a gale, and while Tournesol had her heavy weather noises, Starship certainly has her own tune. I am determined to get a good audio recording for the website of the sounds produced by sailing in a gale. When the wind reached 37 knots the wind took on an actual scream.
We rearranged a few things on the boat that had redecorated themselves and I settled back down to try and sleep out the rest of Pam's watch. Just as I seeped back into a feverish sleep, a big, and I do mean big wave picked up the boat, tilted her over and threw the printer across the cabin with plastic parts scattering over me. Wow! That was a wave. I would soon learn that Pam had just mustered up the courage to check the radar in the cockpit when the wave struck and she had to wrap herself around the wind dodger poles like a koala bear to hold on.
At this point we reduced sail down to only a double-reefed main and hung on. We were able to maintain a 4 -5 knot boat speed while the sea raged around us. Later in the night came the rain and this was not your ordinary shower. The skies literally dumped buckets of rain down on the boat. It was like riding through the car wash when you were a kid.
The onset of the rain was the beginning of the slow end to the front. Over the next four long hours the wind very gradually began to ease. At the very end the wind clocked around 180 degrees in five minutes and settled at a calm 8 knots. The seas however, would take most of the next day to lay down, leaving us with an ocean that resembled a motocross track for sailboats, with us jumping over, slamming into, and getting covered by waves and spray.
This bad weather was certainly not pleasant and it was a bit scary after eighteen months off the water, but it was not the worst we have seen, and it gave us an opportunity to get to know what Starship was capable off in rough conditions. In the end Starship performed well. The modifications we made to her rigging made it very easy to make sail changes. She kept us much drier with her higher freeboard and center cockpit. Overall, she did a great job and we also did a pretty good job in conditions that many sailors will never see. There is always room for improvement but we made a good team with our new vessel last night.
On Saturday the weather cleared as predicted in our weather reports. The winds eased back to a weak finicky 5 knots. The sea state retuned to slight and we had to return to motoring. It was like the gale had never happened, but it was certainly a good reminder to always keep your guard up because the ocean has a chaotic mind of her own.
There is not much more to report on for Saturday. We motored, used the time to make some water with our newly refurbished water maker. We dried the boat out and cleaned up from the evening's excitement. We both also tried to nap because we were exhausted, but sleep never does come easy after a good does of excitement, adrenaline, and just a dab of fear. Tonight though, I think there will be some sleepy snoring dogs when they get there time off watch in the doghouse!
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