As I sit down in the saloon writing the prior blog about hair intrusions on Wednesday early afternoon – it has just started to snow outside. We have big seas – more short wave length and short interval than sheer height, but big enough to cause the boat to corkscrew about 50 degrees as it rides down and up the other side of waves and it is quite difficult to sit up straight in the saloon and write this. There is a weather system that has been dallying with us all day and it has finally just caught up with us.

At about 07.30 this morning, while on watch, I went out with the skipper to change the head sail configuration as the winds had somewhat unexpectedly built to over 30 knots. So we went up to the bow and again poled out the high clued yankee to keep it stiff and catch the winds that were directly astern of us, where it is accompanied by dark threatening clouds associated (or vice a versa depending on your point of view). At that hour, we thought the weather would come right over us imminently and we might get a good soaking while on deck (even the skipper had his foulies on), but it didn’t and so we didn’t get wet, just very cold hands and you can’t wear warm gloves when you’re handling lines.

All morning since then, the winds and sea have been building and then finally the very dark grey clouds behind us caught up enough to dump moisture, which has come down as snow. Juan, one of our two wonderful resident Colombians, has never seen snow – so he has immediately gone and sat outside to relish it. Right now, the winds are continuing to build even higher (just notched 40 knots) and we may have to go and put another reef in the main.

I’m not on watch and even when I am (which is in a couple of hours) my main task is to cook the evening meal. I’m not volunteering to go outside unless I am volunteered by someone else! I think this is real southern ocean weather now. Someone just said – well this is what we came for, which is true, but now we’ve had it – lets move onto the smooth sailing under blue skies with great winds off our beam – driving us fast to Tristan.

Not likely for a few days now!

Pip pip

P.S. Strange world out here and the forecast doesn’t always play out. After a lengthy period of winds backing and veering around the compass and falling away and coming back, and with more wintry mix showers, the wind has now all but gone and the Iron Genny had just gone back on and we’re making way nicely.

I’ve been back on watch and come off it (and dinner was very nice, thanks for asking – bangers and mash with a very nice onion gravy – the request was for some gastro pub food – so that’s what they got). Now I am sitting alone down in the saloon writing this, drinking a cup of green tea (I’ve already had the day’s caffeinated coffee) and getting ready to go on watch from 00.00 – 03.00. I suspect the engine will be on for most of the night, unless the god of winds smiles on us and comes back earlier than the new forecast  suggests. The sea has calmed quite significantly (still a little Rockies and Rollie though), but it’s not like it was (HUGE!), still big enough to spill the green tea I was so enjoying – idiot!