A Messy Ride

Written Jan. 3rd '11



F*CK ME!

These last two days have been a test! A real test to really see if I am cut out for the big oceans of the world or not. Still not sure whether I passed or not.


When we crossed the corner of Belgium and France and ended outside the Biscay Bay of France, the weather changed. A lot of different weather were cooking in the area and since we were "close" to the Bay, we ended up in the middle of this.

Frigin ey!

Never have I tried anything anything near this. Such a challenge even to stand up. Waves which reached about the 4 meters surrounded us and considering you are on open water there is no easy way out. We had to stay in it and live with the ridiculous rough rocking of the boat. First 30 degrees to one side, then 20 degrees to the other and so it continued for about 48 hours.

That hurt. I was completely beating up at 4 am this morning when being on night watch. My eyes had forgotten how to stay open at all times, my stomach was up side down and all over the place and the more I looked at the watch wishing 6 am would come quick the slower it went.

At 4 am Lizz came to the Brigde, had a quick look at me and sent me off to bed. She willingly took over the last 2 hours of my watch and I am her dearly grateful.
Did her laundry today as a thank you.

As I tried to sleep the wind picked up even more, I fell out of bed 3 times; head first. Yep, frigin pretty. This pissed me off more than anything. No sleep, feeling like pooh and a frigin non-stop rocking boat really put my patience on a test. When my bodylotion bottle decided to throw itself right in my face at 6 am I spend so much energy being furious I managed to put myself to sleep.

Woke up feeling a bit better yet not fit for fight at all. The whole boat was a mess. Despite we secured everything onboard before departing loads of stuff were scattered all over the place. Things you never thought were able to be moved easily were moved to the other side of the boat. The clean-up started, despite we were still in waves around the 4 meters.

The diesel alarm went off. Luckily. We were soon to be out of petrol which meant we had to aim towards land for a refill. At this time we just reached the North West of Spain.


La Curuna Marina is where we now is anchored for the night. Its quiet. Oh so quiet. No engine, no noice, no waves and no upset stomach from constant movement and we all could have a well deserved and needed shower. I feel human again.
Considered we all were in high waters during new years and therefore never popped the champagne, we decided tonight was the night.

We are set to take off tomorrow, staying more or less close to the shore till we reach Africa where we will cut over and eventually hit Las Palmas. There is a storm roaming the open ocean where we were, so we came out of it in time.

Despite the roughness and toughness I am still a smile and will love a long night sleep in my bed and not on the floor with a " what you doing down there for Mommy?"-look from Gypzy who had it easy.


She is absolutely fearless that little puppy. Not a peep from her during the messy ride. The other dogs freaked out and cried the whole way through and Gypz was a champ. Just wanted to play and cuddle like nothing is up. Though despite her toughness, when I had her on my lap after dinner I felt she was rocking back and forth as though we were still sailing. Real cute. She is really something that little girl. Incredible!


I know this is not the last "storm" we will hit considered we will cross the Atlantic Ocean in February, and when doing so there are no ports to stop at and refuel. Sure that'll be an eye opener.


Till then and till tomorrow I will enjoy my quietness with my books and happy thoughts.


Only time can tell what will happen next..


Thank You