October 26, 2014 Tempestuous Tasman
October 26, 2014
39 39′ S
172 32′ E
SOG: 5.2 kts
Right now we are experiencing a full gale in the Tasman Sea. Several hours after dousing the main, the winds picked right up to 30-35 knots. We rolled in the jib and are running beautifully along under storm trysail alone. The Monitor is holding course and keeping the wind angle at 150 degrees over the starboard quarter. Despite urinating all over my long-johns while attempting to go to the bathroom in the pitching cabin, things are well. It’s amazing how calm things seem below (relatively) vs the chaos above-decks, which is a smother of foam and waves in the pitch black.
A 1006 mb low is pushing its way up into the Tasman (very annoying timing) and we are sailing along the leading edge of the clockwise flow. I imagine in a few hours the “eye” will pass over us and the winds will drop for a few hours before backing to the east. Hopefully we’ll be close enough to Farewell Spit at that point that we can motor into Able Tasman bay and crack off on a beam reach to Nelson. We are so close!
