Light Show
Tuesday we left the anchorage in Sicily at 10:30 after a relaxing morning. We couldnât stick to the rumb line but we continued sailing anyway. Monica commented that the sun was setting behind a line of clouds and we were headed to it.
I took the first night watch at 20:00 and there was nothing in the area to be concerned about. We had taken down the mainsail and jib but left the mizzen set because of the lack of wind. When I came back on deck around 20:30 I witnessed one of the most impressive lightning shows I had ever seen. There was lightning in the cloud and cloud to water strikes in rapid succession. I thought I saw an opening in the line of clouds so started heading towards it. I called Monica on deck and we decided to do a u-turn and wait and see if the storm dissipates. After a half hour it did stop lightning so we turned back around and went on.
Shortly. there was a storm to the right and a major storm to the left. I thought I could tell which direction the storm was moving and tried to motor around the end of the one on the left. It caught us big time. The ensuing chaos lasted less than a half hour but we will remember it for a long time.
First we were hit with the wind that we estimate at 50 knots. I tried running with the wind but could not maintain control. We still had the mizzen sail set and things were happening too quickly. I still had the engine running so tried motoring a direction out but was knocked down. When we turned off the engine I was able to hold the boat crosswise to the wind. So the boat was point west on the compass and the GPS indicated 1.5 knot drift to the north. I began to get pelted with heavy rain. I eventually lashed the wheel so I could get inside the cabin, take a deep breath and warm up. After that storm passed we cleaned up the mess in the cabin, did a walk-down on deck, restarted the engine and was on our way by 23:40.
We continued monitoring the lightning storms during the night. Wednesday morning we were putting some distance between us and a storm when we noticed a funnel spout form. It continued to grow until it touched the water surface. Then there were at least 2 other waterspouts from the same cloud. We had already moved well out of harmâs way so nothing to worry about. It was impressive to see 3 waterspouts touching the surface from the same storm cloud.
God is good â�" no injuries and no damage.
I took the first night watch at 20:00 and there was nothing in the area to be concerned about. We had taken down the mainsail and jib but left the mizzen set because of the lack of wind. When I came back on deck around 20:30 I witnessed one of the most impressive lightning shows I had ever seen. There was lightning in the cloud and cloud to water strikes in rapid succession. I thought I saw an opening in the line of clouds so started heading towards it. I called Monica on deck and we decided to do a u-turn and wait and see if the storm dissipates. After a half hour it did stop lightning so we turned back around and went on.
Shortly. there was a storm to the right and a major storm to the left. I thought I could tell which direction the storm was moving and tried to motor around the end of the one on the left. It caught us big time. The ensuing chaos lasted less than a half hour but we will remember it for a long time.
First we were hit with the wind that we estimate at 50 knots. I tried running with the wind but could not maintain control. We still had the mizzen sail set and things were happening too quickly. I still had the engine running so tried motoring a direction out but was knocked down. When we turned off the engine I was able to hold the boat crosswise to the wind. So the boat was point west on the compass and the GPS indicated 1.5 knot drift to the north. I began to get pelted with heavy rain. I eventually lashed the wheel so I could get inside the cabin, take a deep breath and warm up. After that storm passed we cleaned up the mess in the cabin, did a walk-down on deck, restarted the engine and was on our way by 23:40.
We continued monitoring the lightning storms during the night. Wednesday morning we were putting some distance between us and a storm when we noticed a funnel spout form. It continued to grow until it touched the water surface. Then there were at least 2 other waterspouts from the same cloud. We had already moved well out of harmâs way so nothing to worry about. It was impressive to see 3 waterspouts touching the surface from the same storm cloud.
God is good â�" no injuries and no damage.
NEVERLAND Journey
Who: Mike Gould-Captain
Port: Onancock VA USA
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