The last 24 hours has seen conditions that would make going ten rounds with Mike Tyson seem a much safer option. We've had big head seas with everybody getting battered and bruised to some extent. My personal contribution to the injury catalogue is a bruised head where I nutted the cabin wall several times.
But true to our weather forecaster's form, the wind did turn, and for a while we had large rolling beam sea, big Atlantic rollers with several thousand miles of momentum behind them. And then gradually the seas came round behind us.
Following seas are always exciting. The boat seems to take forever to claw its way to the top of a wave, as the crest tries to race ahead of us. Then there's a moment as the boat reaches the top of the wave, the bow lifts up into the air, and for several seconds it wallows around aimlessly. Then the bow slams down into the water, and something akin to a runaway train ride begins as we surf down the wave.
It was in these conditions somewhere north of Lisbon that the autopilot decided to pack up, emitting a loud beeping to inform us it was no longer in control. Not the kind of thing you can repair on the move, we're now driving the boat manually, and have arranged to have a new unit flown out to Gibraltar tomorrow.
But that's not the end of the drama. During mid morning, in continuing heavy following seas, Alan managed to stuff the bow of the boat into a large wave. In the normal run of things, the effect would simply be a spectacular cascade of spray on either side of the boat.
In this particular instance it was a double whammy. The first wave was immediately followed by a second, which hit with an enormous crash. For a second, we all thought the screen had gone completely, and that we were about to get half a ton of seawater in our laps.
Fortunately it held, but both front windscreens are shattered, held together by the layer of plastic laminate which saved us. Needless to say, we're taking it easily to ensure we don't get any more waves over the windscreen, and we're heading into Lagos for some more fuel. We will make it into Gibraltar tonight, and the boat will need a little work on it before we head off on the record run on Sunday. But that's what being "Driven by the Challenge" is all about.
Clive Tully
Copyright Clive Tully ©2002
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