SailBlog - Squalls Galore!

Graham

08/12/2008, Mid North Atlantic

Last night was different. Over an hour's period, we were hit by 6 squalls. Wind speeds varied between 25 and 40 knots, the latter giving us a severe battering with torrential rain as well as the wind. Visibility at this point was about as far as the bow, but with no shipping having been seen for 10 days, we thought we were reasonably safe. The lightning show was unbelievable; with bright flashes occurring sometimes 4 or 5 per SECOND (!), it was like being in broad daylight, and gave me recollections of watching 'The Perfect Storm', although the sea was almost flat in our case which was a major bonus. Sailing last night proved very difficult, and we used the engine to assist us. No sooner had some reasonable amount of sail been deployed, another squall would hit (you can't see them coming because it was pitch black, no moon visible), and nearly all of the sail would need to be wound in as fast as possible. To put this into some perspective, during the worst squall, the wind speed increased from 10 to 40 knots in under 15 seconds. We had only the mainsail out at this point, with an area of about 2 x 1 metres (tiny!) and we were hitting 8 knots of boat speed... The view of the lightning was indeed spectacular - I have never seen anything like this in my life, although we were all becoming increasing worried about the amount of fork lightning beginning to develop as the evening went on. When you are a sailing boat in the middle of nowhere with a 17 metre high 'lightning conductor' sticking up in the air, the worst thoughts begin to cross your mind. To add to our events of the evening, Mark T had a nasty incident with a can of tomatoes en route into a chilli con carne, the sharp edge on which caused a nasty incision in his right hand. This is now all bandaged up and contained in a glove (to keep all of the pieces together!) and he is recovering OK. Still, great chilli, although it did appear slightly redder than usual...! So, apart from all that, it was a fairly quiet night. The sun is out today, there is barely 10 knots of wind maximum, and we have had to put the engine on again in order to ensure a timely arrival in Saint Lucia. The safety lines are covered with clothing that we are drying out and it is now the start of another day in our quest for clear Caribbean waters.