Lightning..
We've been through Pirate Alley and up the Red Sea.
We've hit a whale that almost stopped the boat dead (with the spinnaker up after dark wouldn't you know).
We've crossed the Singapore and Malaca Straits, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
But the scariest, most uncontrollable feeling is an extended thunderstorm at sea. We've had two memorable ones that are still fresh in my mind even through they happened a long time ago.
Seven Hours: During our passage from Marshall islands to Fiji (1800 mile to weather), we passed through the South Pacific Convergence zone that was up against a through of low pressure. For seven hours straight we had bolts of lightning that landed all around us, white out rain and 40 then 0 then 35 knot squalls that came from every direction. We couldn't even figure our where to steer to get away from it. http://svbillabong.blogspot.com/2006/06/our-last-leg-to-fiji.html.
Four-Five Hours in Indonesia: We were sailing in company with some friends that were about 1/2 mile away through the whole thing. At one point there was an incredibly loud bang and I thought for sure one of us had gotten hit. I called him on the hand held VHF, and said he was fine but it sounded like someone dropped a frozen cow on his fore deck. http://svbillabong.blogspot.com/2007/12/lightning-and-frozen-cows.html.
Now that we are in the Med, the thing that's getting to me is this Med mooring thing. We've got almost 28,000 miles under our belt and I can count the number of times we've been in a marina on both hands!! You watch these charter boats come in with 25 knot cross winds and they back into the slip at 4 knots.. and their fenders don't even touch the boat right next to them. We always take it easy, I think the line handlers are struggling to stay awake as we approach, so we won't really damage anything. Maybe it's the embarrassment I'm afraid of.
There's always something.. but it was too easy then EVERYONE would be doing it and it wouldn't be as fun anymore.
We've been through Pirate Alley and up the Red Sea.
We've hit a whale that almost stopped the boat dead (with the spinnaker up after dark wouldn't you know).
We've crossed the Singapore and Malaca Straits, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
But the scariest, most uncontrollable feeling is an extended thunderstorm at sea. We've had two memorable ones that are still fresh in my mind even through they happened a long time ago.
Seven Hours: During our passage from Marshall islands to Fiji (1800 mile to weather), we passed through the South Pacific Convergence zone that was up against a through of low pressure. For seven hours straight we had bolts of lightning that landed all around us, white out rain and 40 then 0 then 35 knot squalls that came from every direction. We couldn't even figure our where to steer to get away from it. http://svbillabong.blogspot.com/2006/06/our-last-leg-to-fiji.html.
Four-Five Hours in Indonesia: We were sailing in company with some friends that were about 1/2 mile away through the whole thing. At one point there was an incredibly loud bang and I thought for sure one of us had gotten hit. I called him on the hand held VHF, and said he was fine but it sounded like someone dropped a frozen cow on his fore deck. http://svbillabong.blogspot.com/2007/12/lightning-and-frozen-cows.html.
Now that we are in the Med, the thing that's getting to me is this Med mooring thing. We've got almost 28,000 miles under our belt and I can count the number of times we've been in a marina on both hands!! You watch these charter boats come in with 25 knot cross winds and they back into the slip at 4 knots.. and their fenders don't even touch the boat right next to them. We always take it easy, I think the line handlers are struggling to stay awake as we approach, so we won't really damage anything. Maybe it's the embarrassment I'm afraid of.
There's always something.. but it was too easy then EVERYONE would be doing it and it wouldn't be as fun anymore.