Weatherfax

Sorry I haven’t been writing much the last few days. Its been pretty tough on me and the
boat and I have hardly slept, writing a blog seemed the least important thing. How wrong
was I, Graham and David you have spurred me on to pull my thumb out and get me writing.

The weather over the last few days has been all over the place and it finally seems to
have settled in as uncomfortable. The winds yesterday afternoon were sending me further
north and into the ice than I wanted but the grib files said it would veer further north
allowing me to tack on to the direct line. The water temperature yesterday started at 18
degrees and finished at 11 degree so you can really see the gulf stream and Labrador
current making there impression. Speed over the ground also seems to be all over the
place with one hour you going faster than boat speed and the next slower.

The wind yesterday started off quite high 20-30knots dropped right of to nothing about
mid day as I sailed very close to the centre of the low and then as I came out the other
side they started to pick up again. I knew it was going to get windy as the barometer was
dropping and dropping fast, the latest grib data forecast 30-35 knots. Okay more than I
would like but I can deal with that. I sail on deeper to wards the ice waiting for the
wind to veer. It did at about midnight. I would bet that I was one of the fastest boat to
take advantage of the shift. I happened to be sitting at the chart table on the laptop as
I really couldn’t sleep. The noises Elmarleen makes really gets to me in rough weather.
The pour girl makes some awful noises and I feel everyone and struggle to relax enough to
sleep. She is like a voodoo doll. I was also worried about my rudder which seems to have
become increasingly sloppy although I have just fitted new bearings!!! I also kept on
hearing this grinding noise and I convinced myself it was one of the corners of my new
stainless steel water tanks grinding holes in the hull.

Anyway I tacked on the shift and it was a perfect direction, free and easy and a great
bearing. The wind initially dropped and then started to build again. I left the sails as
they were (3reefs and Heavy weather jib) as I thought I was already under powered and
went down for some damp sleep on the bean bag. About 30 minutes later it felt like I had
been knocked down. Half dozing I climbed on deck and my god was the boat struggling. A
few cold waves in the face and I realised that the situation on deck was a lot worse than
it sounded from below. We had got far too much canvas up and it need to be dealt with.
The wind speed was reaching 30 -35 knots as expected but gusting nearly 40. The waves had
got up and I was beam on to them. Time after time the waves would roll Elmarleen onto her
side and submersing the side deck completely. Sitting on the windward cockpit seat it
felt like being in a dinghy on the edge of a capsize. That moment your just about to
topple and fall onto the main sail. I looped an arm around a winch and we came back up
again. Bloody hell, this isn’t fun. I cracked off and hand steered for a while to just
wake myself up a bit and think about a plan. Still we were being picked up and spun
round. Ok. I have no option but to put up the storm jib and drop the main.

Storm Jib. In order to put the storm jib up I need to get the HWJ down. This requires me
to quite literally swim up the side deck to the mast, blow the halyard and then get right
up the pointy wet bit of the boat and pull the bloody thing down. In winds like this they
dont fall down, the wind holds them up. Finally getting it down I lash it to the guard
rails and secure the halyard. I then swim back to the cockpit to release the sheets so
they can be re- run for the storm jib. Also the cars on both side of the boat need to
have there positions altered to suit the new sail. Then storm jib in hand I swim back up
the side deck trying to hold onto the boat while not loosing the jib over the side, I
then clip it onto the inner forestay. Then back to the mast and hoist before rushing back
to the cockpit to sheet it in before it flogs the boat, mast and sails to pieces.

I gave this a go for about 5 minutes and then realised Yes the main would have to go
aswell. This should be easy as I have 3 reefs in. Oh no, nothing is easy it’s a boat. I
go back to the mast and blow the main halyard, nothing happens, the friction of the
sliders sailing down wind pin it into position. I am going to have to head back into the
wind to get the main down. Back to the cockpit I steer the boat up a little and then go
back up to the mast and pull the sail. She comes down, but this time the full length top
batten pops through the area between the mast and the shroud. Its stuck. The sail has to
go back up a little and I will have to steer further into the wind and waves. In the end
the main is down and I have lashed as much of it as I can to the boom to stop it
flogging. Its exhausting and frightening. This is all happening at about 3:30 when all of
you are tucked up in bed, there is me being punished for something I have done in a
former life. You can’t be scared, it just has to be done, you cant wait and see if the
wind drops as it wont, you just have to clip on, dig deep and get wet and cold. Also bear
in mind this is all done with a head torch!

Once I was steady I flicked the wind instrument onto max and it read 46.9 knots true! I
couldn’t believe it. No wonder it was all such hard work. I gave up on sailing my ideal
course and just sailed what was comfortable downwind and with the waves. I returned to
the relative calm of below and tried to get some sleep.

Still doing 6 knots under storm jib I was far to uncomfortable to sleep. I was wet and
very cold and things just didn’t allow. I put on a pair of mittens and a woolly had and
just lay in a soggy mess on the saloon floor until the sun rise this morning.

Today I have slowly put more and more sail up as the wind has dropped but it is still
blowing about 25 knots. It’s a really annoying direction – I am about 60 degrees off the
wind which in these conditions means the boat with every wave luffs up and then the
autopilot forces her back down, up, down, up, down , up, down, up down. It drives you
crazy. I have had some breakfast and some lunch and I’m feeling a lot better. I will get
this off and then check the weather before trying to get some sleep.

How is the office today?

Lat:44.23N
Lon:46.49W

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