We have had two days of the most fantastic sailing conditions: a flat
sea and constant wind of 20-25 knots. This resulted in an almost 30
hour spinaker run with constant speeds of about 11-12 knots straight to
Aussieland. As the weather system progressed the wind slowly turned to
our nose and we had another great spell of close hauled sailing. 20
hours of beating but at a slightly open angle (met een knik in de
schoot)and the boat went like a train and like a dream. None of its
usual hard helming work to keep it going straight. With northerly
winds the temperatures have been really good and some of us even managed
to go out in shorts! The sun rises and moon rises were due to the great
visibility and straight unwavy horizon absolutely spectacular.
But is is not called the southern ocean for nothing and the weather can
be very changeable. Last night we got rolled over by a frontal
depression bringing us rain and lots of wind. While putting a reef in
the wind increased to 35 knots (still on the nose) and we entered a
busy night. Headsail changes as waves were crashing over us sweeping
some of us a few meters across the foredeck, battling with the wind to
get our headsail down. It was spectacular, tough and believe it or not
great fun! After 12 hours of working our butts off with the enemy in
sight (Australia were a few miles off our bow) the result this morning
was that our sail wardrobe is back to the state it was in before the
wind hit us and we are now looking over our shoulder to find Australia.
Actually over our radar shoulder as they have vanished out of sight
during the morning.
While all of this is going on we had two celebrations in a row: Saint
Nicholas day (5 December) and Finnish independence day (6 December).
Both celebrated in style. We hoisted the finnish flag in place of the
British ensign on the back of the boat, had a crash course Finnish
history and closed the celebrations with army grub, fresh bread,
chocolate and Finnish vodka.
The next bit is in Dutch as I cannot be bothered to explain the
traditions around Saint Nicholas day.
5 december begon fantastisch met de beste zeilcondities denkbaar.
Terwijl ik in mijn laarzen gleed op weg naar dek stootte mijn teen op
een pakketje: Sinterklaas weet je ook overal te vinden! Een gedichtje,
een chocolade letter en een handpoppetje van het paard van Sinterklaas
in mijn ene laars en een CD met sinterklaas liedjes in de andere. Een
hele leuke verassing. Ik denk dat de goed heilig man een zwarte Piet in
ons crash bulkhead heeft gestopt, want ik weet niet hoe hij dit anders
met zijn stoomboot of schimmel had kunnen regelen. Het was erg leuk weer
eens Sinterklaas te vieren (ook al viel dat 's avonds letterlijk in het
water) na drie jaar Londen zonder de gebruikelijke gezelligheid. Ik heb
een gedicht voor de boot gemaakt en hel;aas waren de chocolade letter s
niet op tijd geleverd in Kaapstad maar dat mocht de pret niet drukken.
Iedereen was geintrigeerd door de folklore en de handpoppetjes van sint
piet en schimmel kwamen goed van pas om eea uit te leggen. Om 2 uur 's
nachts toch nog warme chocolademelk en kruidnoten genoten na de
avonturen op het voordek. Nu enigzins uitgeput (net als na "normale
sinterklaas") maar dan van slaapgebrek enm fysiek inspanning en niet de
gebruikelijke kater. Dankje Sinterklaasje!
Back to realitty: last night we received a pan pan message from the
Search and Rescue unit oif the Ayustralian navy: be on the lookout for a
trimaran with 3 persons on board. They were last reported 600 miles
south of us and have not recieved their destination (Fremantle from Cape
town ) in time. Just shows how the seas can influence our plans and
lives. Let's hope they are OK and have only fallen off the
communaction world and not the real world.
