Leg 5; race 8: day 11
The storm
Woken at 5.30am was fast asleep. Had bacon sandwiches for breakfast yummy. On deck for 6am cold again so Wooly hat on. A fishing boat came up really close to us and put his speaker on to say "high winds were coming " this was said in Chinese but Sean Chinese crew could translate for us. We were aware that some high winds are coming and are prepared for them. We currently have Yankee 1 and staysail on but have Yankee 3 ready to go up when the winds get too strong for the Yankee 1. About an hour before I came off shift the fog came in. I spent some time in the navigation station with Bob the skipper showing me how the radar works.
Off shift at 10am got Kevin the Chinese media crew to try and teach me a few words and in Chinese. Hello and your welcome ...etc
Went to bunk for a rest. Could hear the wind has started picking up. Changed bunks as was finding it hard to stay in the top coffin bunk as heeling over. At 5 pm was thrown out my bunk by us heeling over I landed in the bunk opposite on top of vitality Luckily didn't hurt myself or him!
The boat was really rolling I could tell the wind had really picked up! Didn't have dinner didn't fancy it felt really nervous. Bob reminded us all to clip on and also said if any of us went overboard he couldn't promise he could rescue us due to the weather conditions !!!
Went up on deck and 'oh my god ' I couldn't believe it huge seas massive waves and lots of wind gusts up to 75 knots. It took my breath away ! Bob was on the helm and I didn't know how he was keeping the boat under control the main sail had already been reduced down to 3 reefs. And the boat was rolling around and slamming through the enormous waves.
We started the shift by taking the Yankee down, so Carl went on bow to help. He was with Jimmy Matt Caroline and sophie. Waves kept coming and they got soaked. I was really worried for Carl and felt frightened. A big wave hit them which threwJimmy across the bow ( he was tethered on) after much struggling they did it. I felt really scared for them. I have never been in a storm like this at sea. Matt needed someone in nav station looking at radar so I was happy to stay down below which I did.
Whilst in the nav station I was keeping an eye on the wind. It remained between 27-75 knots !! Always on the higher side, the boat was really rolling and and least 3 crew were being sea sick down below in buckets. Luckily I managed to be ok. I had to wedge myself in the nav station to avoid being thrown as we hit hughe waves which threw you about, it was like being on a fair ground ride without a safety belt.
When my four hours shift was over I continued to stay in there for my standby shift to keep an eye on the radar, I was also watching the wind graph expecting it to drop but it didn't and remained around 50-70 knots
At last 2am came which couldn't have come soon enough. I had to go in a top bunk and got really frustrated with myself as I couldn't pull myself up and in. Sophie had to help me.
Carl was exhausted, he had been on the helm a lot which was really tough going. I lay in my bed I said a little prayer to keep us safe and I must have fallen asleep more or less straight away. I was exhausted.
Miles covered 189. Speed 5.3-10.9 wind 8.4 -70 knots