1340hrs 22 Oct 2005 UTC 39’32”S 014’58”E Ref 473
Ed: most messages from Berri are prefixed with some instructions / requests / advice / or just “not for publication” gnashing of teeth. The majority is for publishing, as in “for public consumption”, but not all. For example, this one came with:
Steve, i think i can go on working it at very low fx which don’t yet seem to crash the usb., so i might get connected late in the (local) day and early in the morning and i will pick up what i can. might improve after these storms have gone.
… and then we are back to into “update mode”:
vera brittain writes vividly about how extreme adversity promotes an extraordinary intensity of living. it would be crass to compare situations – she was in field hospitals witrhin range of the guns – but i know exactly what she means. we’ve had a constant 45+ ihitting 65 for about 24 hours – te seas are now massive, white, seething masses of roiling crashing water – berri rides most of it but we sometimes ger a broadside hat bodily lifts the boat and slams us against the next wave. very frightening – lucky the freckles are so well polished – the amount of clenching going on at the moment would severely damage a scruffy one. and we have at least another three days of it, during which the seas will increase and the freckles will no doubt continue their exercises. it is awful ust to have to sit it out and take whatever hits us – not an unfamiliar situation but never pleasant. so be prepared for a constant whinge from down here. if it stops, we’re in trouble..
the font in this satcom application is tiny and half thetime i cant read what i’ve written because the boat is moving so violently so ally’all will have to interpret some of the spelling mistakes. sorry
my potato cakes were a disaster – turned out not to set properly and ended up as brown mashed potato. will try next time without oil or egg and see it that works. the sky seems to be closing in – its getting very dark out there – what will it bring. huge crash, bow lifted round about 60 degrees. wish i was an engineer and understood something about impulse loads on boats. mostly the rig isnt stressed – onle when we get slammed and iy wats to keep going. another one – and heavy rain and 70+ gust. barometer has dropped slightly. almost constantly under water – hope it olds together. heavy driving rain – vis down to yards – perhaps this is one of the fronts. there are apparently several lows around us – out of the frying pan…. suddenly it stops 40 kts only – bliss for a few moments. will keep these short and keep sending more frequently that via sailmail. luxury and hang the expense..
trying to claw north as fer as we are able. ain’t no place for wimps down here.
The logs ramblings can be cryptic, so we have added: