Gale Force Winds

Posted by Dave at 07:40 PM, November 09, 2004

(C) Greenpeace

The Esperanza has spent much of the last month out in the Atlantic Ocean, tracking bottom trawlers. Two weeks ago, when two of our activists mounted the net of one of these trawlers, the weather was unseasonably good - sunshine, and fairly calm seas. But now, as the year sidles toward winter, the weather is getting wilder. Since we left Falmouth, we've had many gales, of varying force. But today was pretty wild, we were up against a force 10 - gusting to force 11 - all day. That means a wind of 50 knots all day (90km/h), howling around the masts.

The waves are huge, lumbering grey monsters, streaked with white. The
Esperanza climbs wave after wave, and descends hundreds, thousands of
troughs between the waves. Every so often, we crash down hard, sending
up a wall of foam and spray from the bow, across the windows of the
Esperanza's bridge. This is no mean feat - the bridge is four decks
above the waterline!

It's too dangerous to do deck work in these conditions - and any heavy
physical work is more tiring than it should be. The crew has other stuff
to do though - there's always work to be done on a ship, no matter what.
I've been hanging out of my laptop all day, trying not to injure myself.
The sewing machine has been busy all day, with Maite fixing some of the
ship's thermal gear. Some people pass a little time up on the bridge,
gasping every time another huge wave appears in front of the Esperanza.
And a few people who are feeling a little `under the weather' have
retired to their bunks, praying for the storm to pass...

- Dave