All Hands on Deck - Night 79

The inter holiday period is a tough time to arrange volunteer projects as most of the coordinators of the local projects are unavailable. As such, our calendar was again blank for this cold and windy Friday. Once the rain cleared, Terry took us out on the Sentinel for an afternoon sail around the Harbor. With only four of us along this time (five, counting Ray) we weren’t allowed the luxury of shift changes and it was literally ‘all hands on deck.’ Maneuvering south out of the Harbor wasn’t easy as we met with a stiff 18-22 knot headwind. Even with the engine on half throttle we were only hitting 4 knots an hour. As we approached the mouth of the Harbor the swells grew to 2-3 meters in size, tossing our small boat about. It was my first time on seas anything even remotely resembling rough. Terry explained that the ‘short swells’ as they are know (short for the wavelength, not the amplitude—the two of which maintain an inverse relationship) are caused by the sudden decrease in water depth in this part of the Harbor resulting in a set of ‘bunched up’ swells which are more dramatic than they should be. When we crashed down into the troughs or hit a swell wrong, water splashed up over the bow. Although a bit of a struggle to retain your balance it was very enjoyable as we were never really in any danger of capsizing. After making little progress on our SE bearing to the cape, we decided to turn back and cruise with the wind all the way back into Harbor.

Our days here at the Kowhai House are number, so meals have been consisting of cleaning out the freezer. Today this meant another barbecue of marinated Cajun chicken strips, Honey Soy lamb chops and steaks. I wish I could get paid to grill out.

What I Learned Today: Amidst all the thrashing and the swells my stomach remained strong, thus, I am happy to report that this is one landlubber who, apparently, does not suffer from sea sickness.

written by

exumenius on December 28, 2007 from Wellington, New Zealand

from the travel blog: Kiwis and Kangaroos

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