anemometer. Sea spray was freezing mid-air and
pummelling anyone unfortunate enough to be in its path.
No matter your clothing, the wind-chill froze you to the
bone. Accordingly, we rotated through short watches of
around 30 minutes.
Ferocious weather
The plan was simple, go straight downwind, keep
perpendicular to the waves and don’t hit any ice. We dove
deeper south, to 72° 18’S – we think further south than any
other sailing vessel that year (2014).
Sail trim was easy as we were running bare poles whilst
surfing breaking waves big enough to roll us. Setting a
drogue wasn’t possible as it would have limited our
capabilities to avoid any stealthy ice. Messing up was not
an option, getting rolled or striking ice meant certain
death for all aboard. Even with immersion suits, survival
would be limited to hours, if not minutes, in these waters.
The violent motion, extreme cold and rotating through
short stints on the helm meant sleep evaded me for over
three days, and I wasn’t the exception.
We all dug deep into our reserves but, fuelled by
adrenaline and fear, we survived. When the wind finally
dropped, we were able to take stock of the situation. We
could now walk unhindered, be outside without being
lashed to the helm, cook, sleep and function like
regular human beings. It was still blowing about 40 i
SEA GYPSIES Among our team was Nico Edwards, from California. Nico is
the worst sufferer of seasickness I have ever encountered. Despite his perpetual
mal de mer, his camera batteries constantly failing and the fact that he had never
made a movie before, he managed to make a multi award-winning movie of our
voyage. Sea Gypsies; The Far Side of The World is available on DVD, iTunes and
Vimeo, see http://www.seagypsiesmovie.com for more information.December 2017 63