Volvo Ocean Race - Discomfort takes over for Team Alvimedica
by Amory Ross, Team Alvimedica on 22 Nov 2014
A gradually building breeze propels Alvimedica southeast through the warm waters of the Agulhas current, a major feature of the first few days. Amory Ross / Team Alvimedica
The fast southeast sailing continues in the Volvo Ocean Race but where excitement and adrenaline began—discomfort has taken over. We’re seeing an average of about 25 knots of wind but the sea state is making life somewhat miserable!
We first crossed the Agulhas current, a large south-moving stream of warm water originating in the Indian Ocean late yesterday, but ever since leaving the main volume of moving ocean we’ve been [literally] bouncing through gyres, boils, meanders, eddies—whichever you like to say most—of twisting ocean and it doesn’t seem to matter which way the current is heading, it’s moving strongly enough to make the waves stack up in all kinds of random directions. It is a hazardous path to travel as the boat is moving fast and unpredictably, and there are some fairly sudden and violent crashes.
Working is hard—it’s taken me the better part of an hour just to write this much—eating is harder (nobody is going near the freeze dried) and even the little things like pouring milk powder in a bowl for a dab of cereal can go horribly wrong: Charlie’s just 'had one,' and the galley looks like a scene from Scarface after the milk container decided to make a run for it.
On the bright side--the scheds have been strong and that seems to be enough to keep us motivated in the tough sailing. The view from the front of the fleet is really nice and it makes all the suffering very worthwhile. So we carry on, somewhat happily, for at least another 24 hours.
But secretly I can’t wait for it to slow down a bit… I lost my fleece hat, buried in the re-stack, and it’s starting to get much
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