Watching the Barograph

Last night I watched the barograph, tenth of millibar by tenth of millibar rise, but incredibly slowly because essentially we were going at the same speed as the storm, and couldn’t slow down and let it go away. But finally, after many hours, I fell asleep for a...

A Storm Primer

The past 24 hours has been in the cold front of the depression. Winds have finally come down from the average of 45 knots for a 16 hour period, and our thundering sprints of boat speed from 10-12 knots into the mid-20s, ricocheting off waves. The sea increased to...

In the Eye of the Depression

Last night we endured the warm front and strong winds of this depression. The barograph plummeted, the wind got up to 35-40 knots. We started with 3 reefs in the mainsail and the staysail. At 35 knots, our sail charts say that the staysail is still ok, but borderline....

Iceberg Watch

After the big 2 hour sail change effort last evening, I zipped myself into the 20° F / -6.6° C sleeping bag, and had several hour long sleeps through the night. I got up to look around a few times, but only did minor trimming of the sails. We continue east, toward the...

Pushing East

We are pushing very hard to get east across the top of the Kerguelen Shelf before the big depression gets here in 36 hours. Our plan is to then head southeast to get to where the strong winds will be at least less as the center of the depression passes over us. The...

A Very Cold Night

Yesterday I was happy to make a nice repair on the hydrogenerator leg pull down rope. But it was a bit scary. The hydrogenerator is like a reverse outboard that you put in the water and it generates electricity for the batteries. I couldn’t reach the leg from...