Position: 29 degrees, 03 minutes south; 177 degrees, 16 minutes east

…Changed from the big jib to the small one while the weather was nice Took down the mainsail and put up the storm trysail Took down the staysail and put up the storm jib In general, battened down the hatches

Because it’s blowing and the waves are getting large. We’re definitely in the Southern Ocean. As one of the other boats said on the radio net this evening; “I’m in the Southern Ocean and I don’t like it!”

It’s dark now and we’re glad we made all the changes because it’s no fun to go up on the foredeck in the middle of the night with waves breaking over the bow and 38 knots of wind trying to turn the sail you’re trying to take down into a raging beast that’s struggling to toss you over the side.

This all started yesterday when we sailed through a squall line. I didn’t realize at the time that since the barometer had dropped two millibars, this squall line was actually a weather front. We had been tooling along in 12 knots of wind and as we sailed through the rain and out the other side, the wind literally jumped to 25 knots and the waves went from a couple feet to 6 feet. That fast. So we went with it but after dinner had a discussion about the weather forecast we had and decided we had better drop the mainsail and go with the storm trysail. It would be a bit slower, but we wouldn’t have to wrestle with it at 3 in the morning if the wind came up as advertised. Well, not 30 minutes after we made the change the wind came up to sustained 28 gusting into the 30’s and seas doubled in height and became confused and very rough. Dodged a bullet there. A little later in the evening a breaking wave dropped into the cockpit. There was so much water it literally floated one of the floorboards out of place.

The seas are so steep and rough as Charisma goes up them you’re eyes sink into your cheeks from the acceleration and then on the way back down you lift off your seat like being in an elevator. We have to be very careful when moving around that we don’t just fly off into space.

So, we made it through the night OK, although it was a little nerve wracking. We still had the stays’l up and the wind was getting past its limits. So, this morning we decided to drop that and go with the storm jib. Well again, good thing because now the wind is sustained in the 30’s gusting to 40 (with rain squalls) last I looked. We don’t even see 20’s anymore on the annenometer. It’s blowing hard and the seas are getting really nasty. But at least we’re snug with our smallest sails. Two little sails, each about the size of a Laser sail, but we’re still doing 6 and 7 knots. Other than the seas slamming into the side of the boat and occasionally going over the top, we’re pretty snug. We’re keeping the hatches closed and sitting down below. We get up every ten minutes or so stick our heads out and look around, usually with eyes bugged out watching the size of the waves, then as one is about to break on us, duck back into the cabin and close the hatch. This is supposed to get worse through tonight and then (hopefully) ease sometime tomorrow, but I haven’t checked the latest weather GRIB yet, so we’re not sure.

Such is life right now in the Southern Ocean. We’re about half way across to New Zealand. It stopped being fun a while ago, but will be fun to talk about someday (maybe).