Heavy weather

27 March 2022

News

The predictions said that the low-pressure area we wanted to use to get to the north would give us strong winds with a maximum of about wind force 8. With reduced rigging the ‘Oosterschelde’ can handle that just fine. But because a forecast always remains a forecast, we took a bit more wind than predicted into account. And that was a good thing…

Yesterday we dived low, and it soon became clear that the predictions were wrong. The wind force 8 was quickly reached and in showers the wind increased to well above 50 knots, which comes down to wind force 10. And then all your plans go out the window because then the wind and the sea are the boss! Still, we managed to make quite a few miles to the north before being swallowed up by the core. There it is always a lot calmer in terms of wind and that gave us time to reconsider our plan and the sails.

Today, tomorrow and for the next few days we will be dealing with the western side of this depression. And the forecasts say that the wind just behind the core could also increase to wind force 8, which we have learned by now can easily increase. That’s why we decided to go as slow as possible with just a little bit of sail, just to let it pass. We won’t reach the height we wanted, but we will be freed from this heavy weather relatively quickly. This turned out to be a good decision. The wind immediately picked up to around 45 knots and in showers again well over 50! Every now and then the wind drops quite a bit, and then suddenly picks up again, as if someone is turning a switch: 6 Bft, 9 Bft, 7 Bft, 10 Bft, 5 Bft…

The ship has proven many times in her long life that she can take it and that is clearly the case again. Only the crew has it harder. Because when you’re up, you’re busy standing/sitting. But when you’re finished and want to sleep, you cling to your bunk. So we don’t get a lot of rest.

But there are also nice sides to heavy weather: the sun shines brightly between the showers. And then (while holding your hat) watching the waves rise higher and higher until they turn into a translucent point for the sunlight to shine through, before being blown to shreds and ending up as streaks of white on the water. Or, while we’re on a wave and you look at the stark rainbow hanging in the distance under the next storm and suddenly the wave sinks below you and you see nothing but water around you. From a view of a wide sea, to only a view of a very small piece of wet world.