Orange Juice on Day 40

Day 40 for our intrepid sailors as they continue to battle across the South Indian Ocean on their quest for landfall in Australia.

In the interest of responsible journalism I have skipped the last scheduled update slot. Information has been rather sketchy over the last few days and I did not want to supply half bits of information to all the avid readers.

Wouldn’t it be boring if I once again reported that Lee, Sasha and Kwela have once again sailed through another storm. So, I won’t tell you that. What they have done is have the awesome opportunity of experiencing a tropical cyclone and the effects of its incredible size and power.

Chronologically, the journey over the last few days has gone as follows:
Monday 23:
Position 38 50S 90E
Another mental milestone reached for the two ladies on board Kwela as they sailed over the 90 degree line of longitude. It was a day of good wind but unfortunately they spent it sailing North instead of East. The latest weather forecast they received showed that there was a huge low pressure developing south-east of them and on its current course they would literally sail right through the center of this storm. The action plan was obviously to get as far away from the center of this low pressure as possible as it was promising to be the worst storm they would experience at sea. The speed of the low pressure and that of Kwela meant that they were expecting the storm sometime on Tuesday, and were praying that it would not speed up and hit them during Monday night.
Needless to say, there were anxious hours spent both on the boat and at home.

Tuesday 24:
They say no news is good news. I don’t know about that. When your wife is sailing across the ocean, the worst storm that weather can throw at you is brewing and the collision course is unavoidable, there is nothing good about no news. It was a long day in which I sent numerous messages hoping they were safe and nervously waiting for a reply. Day dragged into night and there was still no news.

Wednesday 25:
Position: 38S 93E
4:40am. Message from Lee saying “Morning my love. Long night but survived – barely… Sea very choppy as a result today and very uncomfi. No sleep and exhausted. Can’t wait for a hot bath and a warm dry bed”. Wow – any news is good news.

8pm. I spoke to Lee. They waited ages for the storm to eventually hit them on Tuesday afternoon, with the worst of it lasting from 4pm – 9pm. Once again the elements tried to see how much they could take and somehow managed to break Bertie, the automated steering mechanism. So, in the middle of the storm, Lee was manually steering the yacht while Sasha was tying herself to various parts of the yacht in an attempt to fix Bertie. Kudos to them on a brilliant job as Bertie was fixed in the storm and managed to steer them through the rest of the night.

Lee said that she had most probably been sleeping for under an hour since the storm struck the day before when she felt Sasha shaking her to take over the watch. Fortunately the sea was calm and the wind was blowing. The stars are not plentiful but look very large; and are mirrored in the ocean every now and again when luminous jelly fish move past the boat on their journey along the ocean tides. Lee said that their bodies are about 30cm in diameter and shine with this beautiful blue fluorescent light.

So at the end of day 39, the yacht sails on, another storm has been conquered, the ladies are safe, feel weather-beaten and miss their family and friends, but our two weary woman are once again rewarded with a sight most of us will never see. It is these things that make this journey worth every day that they are out there.

Thursday 26:
Position: 38S 96E
SMS just came in from Lee. All is well.
Tonight, somewhere in the deep south, is the first meeting for this year of the book club that Lee is a member of. I was asked by her fellow club members to please tell Lee that they will raise a glass to toast her and have a glass of wine for her.
Rene – Lee says that you can forget the wine. For snacks she would like a simple biscuit with cottage cheese and to drink, please have the biggest glass of orange juice with lots of ice in it.