A Taste of Hell

09/15/02

    After happy hour yesterday we put the third reef in the main, as the wind was approaching 30 knots.  This was to be the start of another hellish night, probably the worst of the trip so far.  We were heeled extremely, even after the reef, and eating dinner was a particularly arduous task.  Later in the evening the wind climbed to 40-45 knots, and one of Victor’s steering lines failed.  It was too rough to do any work with Victor, so we decided to heave to until the worst of the storm blew over.  During this whole time we had all the hatch boards in place, as spray was flying around all over outside.  The boat was rolling and crashing violently.  By the time 0100 rolled around, the wind had thankfully subsided somewhat (20-25 knots) and David and Eric were able to fix Victor.  At the same time the wind direction changed, and they decided to tack and sail on a reach.  This put us on starboard tack, which was good for sleeping (for me, at least).

    As of this morning, Eric and I shook all the reefs out of the main, as the wind has gone down.  We now are flying all available canvas, but not making very good progress, as we are now close-hauled doing 055 on the GPS, 40 degrees off the rhumb line (099).  While we had originally hoped to make it to Cape Town late tonight, at this rate we will be lucky to make it tomorrow night.  We have exceeded 4000 miles on the log for this leg, and this is the 33rd day of the passage.  This is also the longest passage that Eric has ever had on FIONA.  If I die and go to hell, this is what it will be, a never ending passage in this godforsaken boat on these gale-ridden seas.

    I forgot to mention that we have the Benguela current running against us also, which takes away a knot and a half from whatever meager headway we are making, and also pushes us further north, away from our destination.