Day 7 – Saturday 15 February.

By Cathleen Hughes.

At 01h00 the wind died for a moment, shifted and increased again causing the boat to completely heel over and almost broach. This wind movement was exactly what Chris told us would happen in last night’s team weather briefing. The weather continued throughout the day almost exactly as explained. During the 05h00 shift the rain was coming down in sheets so thick that it was difficult to see the ocean surrounding us. It is the first time since the storm leaving Cape Town that the crew had to don their foul weather gear. At 07h00 the shifty wind picked up to 25 knots and the waves were hitting the boat side on which caused us to down sails and motor for a while to find the most comfortable point of sail. The boat heeled severely to the port which resulted in all the starboard bunks being most uncomfortable to sleep on because one has to hold on while trying to rest.

When one wants to do some clothes washing on the boat, it is done in a bucket at the stern of the boat with a bar of sunlight soap. For convenience, the bar of sunlight is kept in a plastic bag and tied onto the push pit next to the braai. When the winds picked up we became worried that the bar of soap would fly away in the plastic bag so Rory missioned to the stern to fetch the soap. When he arrived back he was empty handed and simply exclaimed “I have locked the soap in the braai!”

All making of food was called off for the day so all that was available was soup, which is just what everyone needed. For lunch we had Cup a Soup and for dinner we had Brazilian Chicken, noodle and vegetable soup. At the moment things are very slow, if a crew member is not on watch they are either sleeping or eating. Later in the afternoon, the waves started to increase in size and power. With each wave that hit, the boat shudders and heals. At the exact moment that Virgil awoke from his afternoon snooze a wave crashed against the side of the boat and made a noise which prompted him to ask, “Did we just hit a whale?”

Renier and Rory engaged in a conversation during their watch about the troubles of keeping finger nails in good condition on a boat. Their main concern was that their finger nails were always dirty and didn’t have anything to clean them with. Renier suggested a match stick but after failing to find any, they searched for other means. Suddenly Renier had an idea to use a bird’s feather and before we knew it, Rory had joined him in making bird calls so they could catch a bird for their much needed feather. With all jokes aside, suddenly Storm Petrels appeared and started following us. They didn’t get their feather but they were chuffed that their bird calls had worked.

It was a very bumpy night with the winds staying constant between 15 and 20 knots. Not much sleep was had by the crew members but everyone is still holding their own and constantly chatting in attempts to keep their minds off the storm.