Rock'n'Roll Lifestyle

Posted by Dave at 08:40 AM, October 30, 2004

(C) Greenpeace

Last week, I got an email from a friend in Dublin, telling me that 'the worst storm since 1986' was due to hit Ireland. I mentioned it to one person, and in minutes, I had other crew members coming in to tell me, 'hey y'know the weather's gonna really bad in Ireland!'. Bad news travels fast. At the time, we were hundreds of miles northwest of Ireland, so people back on shore were supposing that we would miss the storm. Not likely, as the weather had been deteriorating all day - to the point where we were forced forgoe performing another action on a bottom trawler. The weather charts were showing a angry looking low pressure touching the south coasts of Britain and Ireland, with lines so close together it was referred to as 'The Volcano'. Lovely.

That night - the waves are huge, and glowing in the bright moonlight.
Standing in one place means doing a workout, hanging on to anything
that's solid. It's beautiful to watch though, the massive waves crashing
across the bows, like a photographic negative. Occasionally, one would
lash against the bridge windows, 11m up from the waterline. There's a 50
knot wind (92.5km/h) blowing, and there's a banshee wind howling around
the mast and antennae.

On Thursday morning, we all stumble into the mess, bleary eyed. Dave R
is asking everyone 'good sleep then?' None of us have had a good night,
rolling from the port to starboard sides of bunks, and back again,
listening to the waves hitting the portholes. The best solution is to
wedge ourselves in, using blankets and pillows. Today, the weather
hasn't improved much - the big waves just keep coming. It's impossible
to spend any time at a computer, and too dangerous for outside deck
work. Some of us end up on the bridge, slowly getting mesmerised by the
apparently infinite patterns of huge waves (here comes another one!) and
watching the Espy's bow crashing through the water, throwing up massive
clouds of spray.

- Dave