Leg Five - Third installment: This wasn't in the brochure or, MaaMa visits the car wash!
As is often the routine with long distance sailors, before leaving port an ad-hoc group of like minded sailors discuss staying in contact with each other during the voyage to swap information and watch out for each in case trouble strikes. This is all done using the using the new-fangled invention called the "radio". The group determines in advance an agreed to call-in time and frequency, which in this case is 1930 Galapagos time (0130 Zulu), thus helping to herd the cats and keep out of trouble.
The exchange between boats is Boat Name, present position, both latitude and longitude, current, weather, wind and sea state conditions along with number of "souls on board" or as we know them as people. During check-in the sailing vessel "Ovive" goes thru the retinue of formalities, which include his overnight experiences with strong weather and a rough sea-state, he exclaims "What we've just encountered wasn't in the brochure!" Having heard this we wondered just which brochure he had been reading.
But then again brochures are written by advertising guys that tell you that the beer is cold, frothy and oh, so satisfying, when you in fact pop its top to find that is really is just piss in a can. Brochures? There are those that come from Madison Avenue and those that you write yourself. As Suzan and I pop one, we never forget that sailing small boats on the high seas is a 24 hour-a-day, day in and day out never-ending job.
We knew that there was a 'trough" out in front of us. "Trough" is a weather term for an imaginary line thru a low-pressure system that will have 'variable winds' and should be traversed with caution. But we all know that weather is a constantly changing & moving thing? and given how slowly we move we anticipate that this trough will remain to our south. Oh no, this was not to be the case. We had a lovely day of sun and lots of clouds in the distance and enough wind to do some decent sailing.
A friend had reminded me earlier in the day ? Having everything fixed is a wonderful feeling, although if Neptune allows you more than 24 hours in the "everything is fixed" mode, he is storing up new and exotic surprises to further your appreciation while a visitor in his challenging realm.
So back to the radio conversation. We are all within about a 250-300 mile radius so the exchange of weather and sea conditions are very helpful for planning the next 24 hours of sailing (or motoring as the case may be). After checking that no-one is in trouble, and all of the days problems have been solved, we will turn to weather. Usually one of the group will have downloaded the weather synopsis for the area and gotten a copy of the "High Seas Forecast and Advisory". A voice across the waves
warns that the center of a "1010" low was at 4 degrees South and 95 degrees West. Hhhmmm. This is our position. It really had been a lovely day up until then? well, until about an hour later when the skies turned inky black and this is where we drove MaaMa thru the car wash, which is the only way we could possibly describe the amount of water that came down. If you want to experience this for yourself, here's what you do. Drive, walk or fly to your neighborhood car wash, remove hat and coat, strip
down to your skivvies, hit the start button, then slowly walk yourself through the high pressure wash cycle, repeat as necessary until you have finally 'gotten it'. Ahhh, didn't that feel good? So why all the way down to your skivvies you ask? It was 9 o'clock at night when we encountered this delight, it was 92 degrees and 100% wet and skivvies was the uniform of the moment. So this is how you too can experience an aspect of ocean sailing close to home. If you desire more information send for
the brochure.
Fair winds _/) Suzan and Michael