24.03.2006
Dee in final phase of gruelling Southern Ocean passage
In Brief
- Yet more twists and turns in final phase of Southern Ocean
- Trapped in a high pressure cell “pushing us backwards”
- More evasive manoeuvres to dodge fast moving secondary lows
- Looking back on a gruelling Southern Ocean passage – some incredible facts and figures
Summary
After 78 gruelling days in the Southern Ocean, the end of this difficult phase of her voyage is in sight for Dee. But even in the closing chapter with temperatures rising and signs suggesting the rough stuff was behind her, Tuesday saw a return to the “familiar pounding and crashing off waves that was becoming a memory.”
On Wednesday Personal Coach Harry Spedding said Dee’s proximity to the Cape of Good Hope had given her a psychological lift that will allow her to muster the energy to tackle the last week before returning to the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, Dee was busy with more immediate challenges, reporting in Wednesday’s diary entry that Aviva had become, “completely overpowered and we were being pushed on our side ... The top guard wire that is thigh height if I stand next to it was in the water and we were slowly going sideways. I had more deck in the water than I had hull!”
Then came yet another twist: “I found myself trapped in a high-pressure cell,” reported Dee in the early hours of Thursday. “Unfortunately, at one stage I was pointing at a heading of 290 degrees and actually travelling east. The current was pushing us backwards.”
Then the pendulum shortly swung back again with winds of 50 knots predicted and yet another dive south of west to avoid yet another secondary low-pressure system needed as soon as the wind permitted. Now clear of the system that was travelling towards Aviva at 30 knots, conditions are thankfully milder today.
As Dee moves into the final stage of her journey to the Cape of Good Hope, she will be pleased to leave the Southern Ocean behind, and looking at the passage from Cape Horn to date as a whole, it easy to see why.
Over the last 78 days and more than 12,000 miles of sailing, Dee has encountered:
- Wind speeds reaching Hurricane Force 12 (nearly 80mph)
- Gale-force winds for in excess of 34 days, of which it was storm-force (55 - 63 mph) for more than 7 days. But it was the second half of the Southern Ocean that dealt the hardest blow when it blew gale-force on 19 days out of 27*
- Four back-to-back storms in a single fortnight (28th February to 13th March)
- Severe sleep deprivation: nine hours in nine days (26th February and 7th March)
- Intense fast-moving storm systems forcing evasive dives to the south
- Storm damage including broken stanchions and a snapped Yankee sheet
- A lightning strike to the mast disabling her wind instruments and forcing her to undertake a perilous mast ascent. During this ascent a sudden alteration of conditions left her stranded for over an hour and she sustained severe bruising
- A lethal field of icebergs: At one point Caffari was becalmed in an ocean sailor’s nightmare with six large icebergs in visual range
Looking back at the voyage from Cape Horn to her current position, Project Director Andrew Roberts said:
“Few people have any concept of what it's like to experience the extremes of the Southern Ocean and winds up to Violent Storm Force 11 (69 mph) gusting to Hurricane Force 12 (nearly 80 mph). Importantly, the relentless frequency of the gales and storms left little time for recovery and made these extreme conditions very difficult to cope with. But Aviva has survived the hammering with very little damage, which is testament to Dee's seamanship.”
Mike Broughton, responsible for forecasting the weather and advising Caffari on routing decisions, said:
“The first half of the Southern Ocean in the Pacific was much more intense due to the high number of low-pressure systems and secondary low-pressure systems. In terms of latitude she had had to go quite a long way south to dodge them at times and life became about surviving rather than progressing west. Sometimes you can’t move the boat fast enough to move out of the way when a storm moves in, and sometimes you can’t move out of the way because there simply is no hiding place!”
Asked about his demanding role in the Aviva Challenge Shore Team, he said:
“This has been the hardest and longest weather routing I’ve ever done. I’ve been doing this every day and it’s been difficult when the storms roll in because I’m always the harbinger of bad news, but at the same time you can’t hide anything.”
*Wind data is from first 69 days in Southern Ocean only due to problems with wind instruments
Quick Links
Read Dee’s latest diary entry:
http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp?pageid=6
Read Harry Spedding’s latest Shore Team commentary:
http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp?pageid=53
Send Dee a message:
http://www.avivachallenge.com/index.asp?pageid=10
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