We’ve been looking at animated weather maps on our iPhones, little arrows with fletched tails showing way too much wind, but from the right direction. To confirm the situation we read and re-read the met. reports posted in the Harbour Masters office window ~ again way too much wind but in a perfect direction. With a modicum of indecision we slip away from St Mary’s intending to run up the coast knowing that we can head for cover in Douglas harbour if things deteriorate.
We have two reefs in the mainsail and half a headsail but we surge ahead in the rollers passing close to the rocky coastline and the havoc of surf. I tempt fate by sitting at the very tip the port bow (safety-line clipped on) watching the nose plunge into the back of the swells as the ship corkscrews through the rollers. We pass an isolated Lighthouse with a massive iron foghorn staring out to sea, a real piece of Klang-Kunst and I regret not being able to take a photograph but I’m not letting go for the moment!
The wind increases and we are sizzling along in following seas, at times hitting 15 knots, so we decide to maintain course for Whitehaven on the Cumbrian coast heading for open sea and even bigger rollers. The ship needs to be hand steered in these conditions which is physically demanding but which induces a trance like concentration, sensing the pitch of the swell and driving the ship down the face of the waves; by the end of the day we all have raw palms! The ship is racing the clock, as Whitehaven is a tidal harbour and we have to meet a 16h00 cut-off for the Sea Lock. We leave the sails up until the very last moment as we approach the massive outer harbour wall, sails down and engines on ~ I’m forward hanging onto the mast, paying out the main halyard; the ship is lifted by the stern, the two bows dig in into the trough of a huge swell, the harbour wall some 20 metres away. I look astern, Lars has the rudder on full lock with a look of consternation on his face, I muse that going for a swim here would be bad! The ship recovers its composure, flashes past the two stone beacons and swerves into the outer harbour ~ the lock keeper is already opening the sea gates and before we know it we are tied up in the lock and soon to our berth. Instead of the anticipated 12 hour crossing we took 7 ~ the local bar has free WiFi ~ we are happy!