Apr 07, 2005 – 1636hrs UTC

1636hrs 07 Apr 2005 UTC Map Ref 154

Well here we go again. Another 50+ blast and increasing. We’ve been waiting for it for a couple of days and it’s just as unpleasant and nasty as I expected. The only difference from previous ones is that this one isn’t building on an existing swell so it’s not – yet – as vicious. Seems the cycle is two days of balmy sunshine followed by at least three of truly foul nastiness. And it’s the waiting that gets to me every time – we just have to sit them out, cant do anything except fret and watch the boat going backwards eating up great chunks of our previous gains. I havent got any feel for the scaleto these things yet in meteorological terms and I cant apply any of the usual rules. And I feel personally every crash and shudder and blast. We’ve worked down thro the sails and are now running abeam wiyth the storm jibA very small jib, usually made from bright orange material, used in storm conditions. at about 4 kts SW. SPBF.

I thought the RYARoyal Yachting Association. A British organisation which represents the interests of those who go boating for pleasure as well as designing and monitoring training schemes; its membership is open to all boat users. were stern examiners (you out there anywhere, Simon and Cloughy? Say G’day if you are, please –  it all helps) but whoever has set us this little test is a pure sadist. Looking at the gribWeather files. Graphics in Binary file: GRIB files associate a specific weather datum (eg wind velocity or atmospheric pressure) with a geographic position. Because the resulting file is a collection of these points they are extremely small and so ideal over slow links such as sailmail., it seems this one is centred about 300 miles south just where we copped the really nasty one a week or so ago – its all a blur – and the centre is getting an AVERAGE 50+ so work that out.

I feel a ConsultationA regular engagement with alcohol. One might say this whole epic is a Consultation with a bit of a sail round it. See also Conservation Mode; Linear and Parallel Methods of Consultation coming on, then Pete wants a go.