Position : 38°15'.8 N and 010°50'.6 E
Day / Time : 01.05.2013 , 14:00 UTC
Mood : WOW !!!!!!!! BF 11 !!!!!!!!!
I dedicate the following lines to all seafarers of the world,
past and present,
who battle the elements day in day out,
without moaning and complaining,
doing a professional job or their job professionally,
but always wary of their life threatening environment when the going gets rough.
Well, we had the third gale warning for in as many days and we are now between the Sardinian Sea, roughly in a southerly direction from Cagliari, and the northern part of the Sicilian Channel.
The wind has turned from a SWerly to a SEerly, a typical Scirocco,
bringing all the red sand from the Sahara and dumping it on to the boat,
and it is blowing BF 10 again.
I will try to show you the effects of different wind directions onto the boat in the following videos.
The first one is with a strong wind from behind ( SWerly),off the Algerian coast,
the second one in the position as described above, with a wind more from forward ( SEerly):
the wind turned into what is defined as a 'Violent Storm' : BF 11, ie 59.9 kts
on our instruments. It was slightly higher in its maximum force, in fact it was around 63 kts.,
but we really had no time to take pictures !
And just to remember :
The pressure on sails and rig on a sailing boat does not increase linear to the wind speed,
but has an extrapolation relation !
And 24 hours later it was all over. Calm and quiet, so we had to turn the engine on !
The effects of three days of storm however were clearly visible both on the human as much as on the wildlife side. Everybody is utterly exhausted, everybody needs a rest form the elements, regardless of the species !
through the 'Strait of Messina" into the safe Marina del Nettuno, outside Messina Harbour.
Another adventure finished, our journey is getting closer to its end !
At present, I feel utter emptiness, but I will recover soon.
Yours,
Master Mike