46´19.7S 075´33.4W course 010´ speed 4,8kn
And today, it was not in the positive sense. As beautiful, speedy and exhilarating as the day before… today was only *&%!#. Jasmijn and I took over the watch from Gijs, his watch had gone better then expected, and we were next to Cabo Ráper lighthouse, or almost.. And there Jasmijn and I stayed all day long. The wind started to increase, we were hit by strong showers and as we came away from the shelter of the land, waves started rolling and building up. We tacked a few times as the wind shifted in the showers, and we had our staysail and mizzen set for support, but it hardly helped. Then we were hit by a hail shower, so fierce we had to turn our backs to the wind, because the hail was too sharp! Winds increased in the shower to a force 7 and salt spray was every where. After the hail all of a sudden there was a light flash, very close by. Lightning had hit the water at close distance. Then came the loud cracking bang of the Thunder. Not a second was in between. Jasmijn and I looked at each other as we jumped of both the light and then the loud CRACK BANG. We giggles, because what else can you do at that point. And then another lightning flash hit the water. A little further off, at least one second was between the light and the bang this time, so it was moving away rapidly. What a relieve.
Cloud cover had been dense all morning and so we had not expected thunder. But at the end of our watch, the skies opened a little and we could see towering Cumulus behind us. Reaching kilometers high! Magnificent.
Wat was also magnificent, were all the birds, especially the Albartrosses we saw today! Our silver lining to a otherwise bad day. There was a great wanderer, several Sooty albatrosses (Soete was with us in spirit!) and a grey headed albatross. We saw white chinned petrels, giant petrels, storm petrels and a gently petrel, I think. It was spectacular to see the albatrosses sheer over the water during the showers and strong winds.
With the waves rolling and stopping us dead in our track, normal live on board has also come to a halt. Some seasickness has returned to the ship, but we are still going strong! Even as another shower has just lit up the radar screen and is coming straight for us.
All is (relatively) well on board, Jet
