A bolt of Lighting



Perhaps I was a bit hasty reporting in my last blog entry, that we were wanting more adventure.

Our evening sail from Menorca to Barcelona was anything but boring. Well, it started out a little boring up until about 3:30 AM. I was woken by Jim Gregory's voice on the VHF radio. He was telling Torben that he was going to hang back and wait for the lightning storm to pass. My antenna went up, did he just say lightning? That shook me out of my slumber! I became as nervous as a long tail pussy cat in a room full of rocking chairs!

We took Morpheus's lead and turned around, waiting and watching on our storm tracker. That would be our radar.

There was lightning touching down all around us. I tried to capture a picture but it was like trying to catch a picture of a flying fish. I kept coming up blank. Fortunately, this amused me for a good hour.

However, as time rolled on the storm seemed to be moving closer despite our attempts to outsmart it. I asked Torben go over the "what ifs" I wanted to be prepared in the event we'd get struck. Torben put a computer and phone in the oven. We were told this may save them from frying if all else fails. Who knows if there's some truth to it.

In mid-sentence, Torben's face lit up in a flash, I swear his face looked like a skeleton! Immediately following was a long crackle followed by a deafening clad of thunder. I let out a loud scream. Yes, I'll admit it. I screamed. Torben's way of consoling me was to tell me to take it easy. I almost began to cry as I started to recite a Hail Mary but I gained back my composure just before any words came out! The last time I resorted to praying was a thunder storm that we sailed through leaving El Salvador.

Just as I got down below to the galley, the wind speed went from 10 knots to 35 knots within seconds followed by a down pour. Tivoli went sideways, cushions flew to leeward along with some other miscellaneous things, like my pillow! Torben was standing in the companion way and was super quick to ease the main. The auto pilot held the course. We sailed through the squall in multiple directions. Trying to find the shortest way out. It eventually let up, just as abruptly as it came on.

We arrived in Barcelona four hours behind our predicted ETA and tucked into the very comfortable Club Maritimo de Barcelona at the foot of the Ramblas and with a view of the statue of Christopher Columbus.

Check out the video on Morpheus's blog. It totally captures the moments! It's linked in the side bar.