Storm at Tuvalu (Sent from Majuro Jan, 2017)=20 (Pics will be bigger next post!) Monday Nov 23, 2015 Funafuti After a quick dash around Funafuti we motored for an hour to the north end of the lagoon. There we anchored off a very small, very low profile, island in the hope of getting shelter from the high winds forecast to come in the next few days. It was a G-string of an island, less than one metre high, plus coconut palms. We really needed a full set of bloomers sort of island. We were uncertain about just how much shelter it afforded. As the tide rose we got bounced around by the swell that came over the reef which extended out from either side of the island. The wind held us side on to the swell, each wave making the boat roll uncomfortably as it thwacked us on the beam. Feeling tired and vulnerable about our exposed situation, I took solace in tea, Christmas cake, and writing, then indulged in the distraction of a game of tiles with David. I looked outside and saw Free Spirit anchored nearby. It was good to have another boat there. The skies were grey was my mood. Our low-pressure system had been updated to a tropical depression (TD), one grade below a tropical cyclone. So far as we knew the higher winds would be south of us, near Fiji. However we would probably get strong peripheral winds from the TD, of 30 or 40 knots (35 is gale force). Earlier that morning we poured over forecasts and charts working out wind angles and swell directions. Gulf Harbour Radio, who run the radio net we=92d been on since New Zealand, said =93we weren=92t in a very good place,=94 for this weather. Great. =93If we anchor here,=94 David pointed to the chart, =93we=92ll get the full force of the wind, and the fetch, but maybe less swell. If we anchor here,=94 he pointed to an area to the northeast, =93we may get less wind but risk getting more swell coming over the reef at high tide. Mind you,=94 he changed the chart to a Google satellite picture, =93the reef on that side looks more substantial and may break the swell more.=94 We could have just flipped a coin. We reanchored and I settled into doing a load of laundry, anticipating catching some rain to top up our buckets as the low passed by. The weather settled for a while. =93Navire, Navire, this is Free Spirit=94 boomed the VHF. Ah, the neighbours calling. =93Free Spirit, Navire, go 17,=94 I dialed up the next channel. =93Navire, Free Spirit=94 =93Would you like to have a picnic on the beach?=94 asked Lauri. =93Why yes, what a great idea.=94 =93Good, will, radio in two hours. Free Spirit back to 16.=94 I rustled up a few delicacies and we motored in to shore in the dinghy. The small oval island was occupied by one man, the caretaker, a stone-deaf man we discovered when we went to say hello. We picnicked on the lagoon-side beach accompanied by a cloud of flies. Replete, we went for a walk around the island, David climbing a tree and liberating four drinking coconuts. Wielding a machete just like a local he lopped the ends off them. Back at the picnic area the tide was coming in rapidly and swamping the back of our dingy, which was hitherto pulled well up the beach. I looked out at Navire. She seemed a long way off, certainly not sheltered at all and was rolling side to side. We abandoned our afternoon out and headed back to the boat. *** Back on board we played tiles to ground ourselves. =93You know some people wouldn=92t like this =96 and I may be of them,=94 said David, referring to the uncertainty of the prospect of a night of stormy weather in an unknown location. He placed a few tiles. =93Right now I=92d take a freezing cold night in a sheltered bay in New Zealand, complete with huddling around a heater.=94 Meanwhile as the tide dropped the rolling and lurching eased. Two other boats arrived making us a fleet of four. Hopefully that was four good decisions about the best place to see out the low, as opposed to everyone just following us. *** At dusk the boat rolled gently. I felt melancholic. After a while I recognised the feeling. Homesickness. We left Wellington just short of a year ago. Just for a moment I longed for familiar things. Safe things, security, predictableness. Even being tied up in Chaffers Marina would do it. For a week or so anyway, till the low pressure and high winds passed and by then I=92d be up for the adventure and warm climate again. Everywhere I looked the boat was dirty, and we were infested with cockroaches (little did we know it was not only cockroaches), they came in with the vegetables, or in packaging from the supermarket. The next day would be locker cleaning day, emptying and roach spraying food spaces. *** Tuesday Nov 24th No it wasn=92t. Locker cleaning day I mean. Didn=92t even get the dishes done till late afternoon. You=92ll only get this post if we survive the next few days, I wrote in my journal. The anchor chain wrapped itself around a coral bombie so we anchored again. We waited for the storm. *** Wednesday Nov 25th We still watched and waited. We were in a holding pattern. We were at the highest part of the tide with the maximum roll coming across the reef. Free Spirit was still anchored nearby and called up. Just to say hello. Nice to have company out there. The other two boats moved to an island further southwest. We stayed put as we were getting to know the local conditions and knew our anchor was holding firm. I downloaded a forecast which predicted an increase in wind speed. We were recording our position and depth every half an hour, in case we dragged, and wind speed and direction, and sea state to compare to the forecast. The higher winds were coming sooner, Thursday and Friday, instead of the weekend. We shipped the dinghy. It had been hoisted up alongside and each time we rolled in the swell she banged on the sea. Darkness fell as the wind rose. *** 1930 The wind jumped from 10 knots to 30 knots, that=92s not triple the speed, its much more, as wind speed in knots is exponential. I was hoping it was just a squall. The rain pounded on the cabin top and Navire pulled up hard on her chain and bounced. She slewed from side to side, facing SW, W, WNW. We checked the latitude and longitude on the GPS. Good not dragging. Its always scarier in the dark, couldn=92t see the island. I went outside and stood on deck in the rain and washed all the sweat off my sticky body. Yahoo a free shower. The water buckets were filling before our very eyes. Whew, wind speed was dropping, a squall after all. *** Nov 26 0900 Getting dressed that morning consisted of taking my nightie off. 27 degrees and 80% humidity. And it was only going to get warmer as we headed north. Good night, no big squalls. The wind was up and squally, up to 34 knots, but they were brief. We=92d invited Free Spirit for morning tea. *** 0300 Morning tea was abandoned. It was too rough for the dinghy ride across the 10 metre stretch of water between the boats. It was coming on high tide and we were rocking and rolling. The wind built steadily all day. We collected rainwater in the frequent squalls. I continued my mission to obliterate the insect infestation, to eradicate what ever was biting me at night, even lifting the floorboards and cleaning and spraying. The day passed with endless games of tiles and chatting on the radio. *** 2300 and I was on anchor watch. The wind was up to 35 knots. Nothing on Wellington standards, but out there, anchored with little protection, it was a lot. It howled. The boat slewed from side to side, putting enormous pressures on the anchor and chain. David said I=92d hear if it let go. I jump a little every time the depth sounder beeps as we swing over the top of coral bombies. If the anchor moved my plan was to start the engine. The peak of the storm was in the dark of night, by lit by occasional flashes of lightning. *** 0200 I managed to stay wake for my three hours and just got my head down and David started the engine. I leapt out of bed. =93What=92s up?=94 =93I just saw 50,=94 that=92s knots on the wind speed indicator. David peered at the barometer - 999.7. That=92s the lowest we=92ve seen on the whole trip. We turned on channel 16. We caught part of a transmission of one of the large Asian fishing boats anchored off Funafuti. Hard to tell but heard something like =93Raise anchor=94. The fetch down there must have been hellish. I sat up for a while with David. Then I tried to sleep, and got maybe an hour. The wind calmed down to 30ish, the lightning storm still raging all around. A squall hit. 45 knots, and bigger waves slammed us, there was more west in it now, and no protection from the island at all, only a bit from the reef. As dawn came I could see the waves. Perhaps it was better in the dark. I look at the numbers on my pad and my code =96 increase in longitude means we=92ve moved east, increase in latitude means we=92ve moved further south. Navire slewed and bounced, there must have been tremendous force on her anchor. The wind shrieked in the rigging. I felt really uncomfortable =96 uneasy, anxious, vulnerable, so few choices. The westerly wind indicated we were at the upper end of the low pressure system which was travelling south east, so we waited for it to pass. Boy, were we going to celebrate when this was over. The winds for the next week were predicted light but I would not complain of sails slatting on oily sea, anything rather than this. As the howling diminished, I dared to hope things were easing. The wind was such a tease, I relaxed a bit and whammo it pounded us again. *** Nov 27 0600 We survived the night, but it was still pretty windy and squally.. The last blast was 44 knots and with a downpour. Dawn brought a reduction in wind but not of drama. In my sleep deprived haze I watched Free Spirit who were anchored ahead of us. Is she getting closer or does it look closer because it=92s getting lighter? I thought. I watched for a while. I went below to get David. I shook him awake and told him =93Come topside quickly and confirm if Free Spirit is getting closer to us.=94 Up on deck we could clearly see she was heading for us and I started the engine. Just then the VHF burst into life. =93Navire, Navire, Free Spirit, Free Spirit.=94 David dived down to the chart table and grabbed the mike. =93Navire.=94 =93We are dragging. We have a rope around our prop and can=92t start our engine.=94 Bloody hell. I start dropping fenders over port the side as their boat rapidly came closer. Fortunately just then the wind veered and Free Spirit hung parallel to us their anchor finally catching, probably on a bombie. =93Free Spirit, Free Spirit, we=92ve stopped dragging,=94 they go on to tell us that at about 3am their dinghy, which they=92d left tied off the back, flipped in the wind and drowned the engine. Then the painter (rope attached to dinghy) wrapped around the yacht prop. Made our night look like a picnic on a sunny day. We=92d shipped our dinghy early having been caught out before. In 2010 we were in Niue, on our first Pacific sailing trip, tied to a mooring off the east side of the island. This was usually the lee side. A rare, and strong, westerly came through and we were caught with our dinghy in the water. Niue has no protective reef, so the fetch was 300 miles from Tonga, giving us a huge bounce. Now its hard enough to ship the dinghy in high winds and big seas but even more difficult with the outboard still attached. Normally we take the dinghy to the stern and use a pulley to hoist the engine onto its frame at the back of the boat, before bringing the dinghy alongside to hoist onto the foredeck with a halyard. No way we could do that in those conditions, the boat was bouncing up and down too much. We had to get the dinghy up complete with engine, get the engine off while the dinghy was sliding around the foredeck, get it back to the stern and mounted, then get back and tie the dinghy down. All without damaging the boat, the dinghy and ourselves. So the rule is - big wind, we ship. ***=20 Sat Nov 28 The storm passed south of us, and it changed status from a tropical depression to a tropical cyclone and hit Tonga and Samoa leaving a trail of carnage. Back down at Funafuti. Everyone went in to town for a beer and shared storm stories but I stayed on the boat. Too tired after anchor watches the last two nights, and the tension of knowing how exposed and vulnerable we were. Even then at Funafuti we had an uncomfortable amount of fetch. I curled up with a soothing glass of white wine, an episode of Game of Thrones, and tried to forget where I was for a while. =20 =20 =20 =20