Interloper

Interloper

It would seem the land down under wants me another 6 or so feet under. I get the feeling that I’m trespassing. A kind of Northern Hemisphere interloper barely tolerated.

The waves are way down from earlier this morning so I took a chance on a dunking, wedged myself in the companionway, and tried to get something that might give an indication of the swell. The pictures don’t do it justice. In the hail and freezing rain forced my hand and I retreated to the cabin.

We await a night of gale force winds and building swell. The wind shift last night after the cold front passed nearly had me at my wits end. Normally, you would gybe onto the opposite tack but that seemed impossibly dangerous and uncertain. In the end, we sprinted north following the shift to avoid the worst of the weather today and tonight. Earlier today we gybed looking to gain more east and a little less north.

It’s an unwelcome welcome to Australia that’s for sure. For some reason I was expecting it to be at least warm. Cabin temperature at noon today is 49 Fahrenheit, humidity is hovering at 80% and I have on most of the clothes I brought for Cape Horn. Soon I get to look forward to a fly-by of the Antarctic Convergence. Considering how cold I am now, I don’t think I brought enough socks for that.

Follow my tracks in real-time:
https://bit.ly/svseaburban