Boat Diary

Part 2

22nd November:

So another day came bringing another challenge for us - our water maker stopped functioning. Yes, you read it right, it got stopped and was not a good news. So far we haven't found the mistake and Mr. Steve, our AQP, is all available to the engineers on land via satellite telephone to discuss the possible causes for the malfunction. Luckily our water tanks are full and should last for few days if we ration it a bit.

Suddenly in the afternoon the Sun got covered quickly by the clouds and we reefed our mainsail and changed to the Yankee 3 headsail, as a seaman has said: "Once you think to reef the sail, just do it."

Here we are just after the reffing. The wind picked up to an average speed of 40+ knots and the waves got bigger and bigger. I would not be exaggerating if I say the waves reached a height between 7-10 meters. The environment on the deck was epic as we got faster and faster and finally broke our speed record of 23.8 knots sailing/surfing down the waves. It was just amazing and everybody was screaming out of excitement.

After few hours only, around at 05:30 pm, the wind increased further to 50 knots with gusts of 58 knots which wasn't so much fun anymore. Now we were in the Southern Ocean and were looking at the different side of it. Qingdao was just flying and the sea was just white. I have never sailed on such a sea state before and was fascinated how good a boat can handle the circumstances. We had to go down to our minimum sail plan, and during the reffing I was on the main trim and we broached so hard that I was twice completely covered by waves coming all over the deck.

One of the crew members got knocked down by the sheer power of a wave coming over the deck while he was undoing the gybe preventer from the main sail. The power of the wave took almost his boots off and inflated his life vest. Actually very funny to see but knowing the possible consequences and the harsh conditions we were in, the crew remained silent. I have seen some bad weather conditions but this was by far the most demanding conditions I have ever experienced. I was surprised by the power of these waves that they can easily get you washed away if you don't take care of yourself or clipped on your harness. I am sure this was just one of many more days that we are going to experience in the Southern Ocean.

23rd November:

The bad weather front passed away and we had steady 17 to 20 knots wind with some gusts. Unfortunately our water maker is still not running and it is becoming more tricky to find the problem. But we are optimistic, plus have Steve with us who is trying hard to isolate the issue. We noticed that even with the Sun out, we need to put the warmer mid-layer on as the temperature drops and you can see your own breath.

We hoisted code 3 again and made good speed through the water. Just 20 minutes before we changed the shifts and were getting ready for the bunks to sleep a bit, we heard a big bang and lots of nervous shouting on deck started. The worst case happened and we lost our spinnaker code 3. The spinnaker exploded in two halves directly from the middle and is not currently repairable for us on board. This is very annoying as this could probably be the most useful thing in sailing for us.

The retrieval of the spinnaker was very demanding for the crew as a larger part was dragging in the water and sheets were flogging around which can be very dangerous. Prompt one crew member got hit on her right leg and the force was so big that she thought her upper leg had got a fracture. After a quick inspection nothing serious was there luckily but she will carry some blue and violet bruises.