And the wind cries...Mary

It is gradually becoming a little colder,day by day.Very gradually,more
so at night as we sail deeper into the northern hemispehere.Soon the
fine,reddish dust of the Sahara desert will cover the heat of the sun,
a pinkish glow rising in the morning and setting at dusk.You first smeel
the sweet earth and then after a day or so you taste it.All around the
boat the dust finds a place to settle,and often with it,insects blown
into the ocean,600 miles from land.And the swallows too,but let me not
dwell to much on that for now.We'll talk about it again when we get
there.For now,we are in a different mode altogether.The area we are
entering is known as the birthplace of hurricanes,just off Cape
Verde.From here they run across the North Atlantic at about 10-16
nm/hr,gaining strenght as they get closer to the the Caribbean,sometimes
running straight through or turning up north to the Bahamas.These
tropical revolving storms turn into hurricanes when certain conditions
prevail,mostly the temperature of the water they move over.But that is
far away from where we are.Relatively.

Our weather files predicts two days of very strong weather,gale force
winds that will test us.We have the good fortune to know it will come to
help us prepare for it.The downside to knowing beforehand is the period
of dread till she arrives.We look at all our options,storm tactics for
want of a better word.No land close enough for us to seek shelter.Our
three options are sailing into it,with just a small section of headsail
to aid us and motoring.Finding a good balance and rhythm into the
oncoming swell can be not too uncomfortable.

Secondly we can hove to.It is simply backfilling the headsail by turning
through the wind without bringing the headsail over.You then have the
mainsail pushing one way and the headsail the other way,working against
each other and causing the boat to sit relatively stable,like a duck on
the water,bobbing up and down the swells as they roll through under the
hull.We practised this manouvre a few times yesterday,so theory becames
practise.Played with the angle of the headsail a bit to see how we can
place minimum stress on our rigging. So heaving to is also an option and
the crew were suprised at how stable the boat sits in this position.

Our third option is to run with the weather pushing us further west than
we planned.As we expect the strong weather to last for about two days we
have calculated where we should end up when the storm abates.We would
normally drag something behind the boat to slow us down a bit and give
us better rudder control.At these windspeeds waves of up to 6mtrs can be
expected.If you go to fast you sail into the wave in front of you,stop
for a moment and the wave from behind can sometimes fall into the back
of the boat,called pooped.Funny term for such a scary event.If you slow
yourself down to much it can also happen so finding the right speed is
also an interesting exercise.

All our options have pros and cons,and we have to see exactly what the
weather brings us before we can choose an option.It is also Pieter's
27th birthday on the 15th.Smack bang in the middle of the strong
weather.He is fine about the weather predicted.Been in strong weather
before during his sailing course with OSA just recently.Brad is a bit
apprehensive,it will be the first time for him.To be blaze about the
experience is highly dangerous.To be a little bit nervous is good,to
respect the elements essential,to fear them paralyzing.Another bar story
in the making...ha ha ha.I don't talk much about these events when I am
on land,don't compare and compete and see who survived the biggest,who
is the strongest blah blah blah.Within a small intimate circle of
friends we compare tactics,but we never boast,we have been humbled to
many times.And you are now a part of this small insider group of
friends,a view right into our hearts and souls as we prepare for whats
ahead of us.Physically and mentally we will be tested,and we will give
it our all,our very best.

Brad has just placed same cappucino muffins in the oven,so I am out of
here and will keep you posted.And Claire,thanks for giving us a glimpse
into the inside of the NICU re your comment on the previous blog.

Take care and enjoy the weekend

Paul