We arrived and anchored at the river this morning successfully, but that is not the part of the story I want to tell you.
As the breeze pushed us on, passing behind Fraser Island, we heard on the radio that there was a “strong wind alert” for the zones that we were still to go through. Reading our own weather reports, we concluded – for the moment – that we could still have all our sails up, so we did.
By the early afternoon, the wind started to increase its speed, gusting violently. Sue turned the vessel into the mighty waves, while Andrew and Guido put down the main sail. We kept on course, motoring, as the flashes of distant thunder continued to get closer, quiet, but certain.
Now surrounded by clouds, we witnessed the sun hiding behind them, like a sea of white and orange cotton, and the night fell upon us.
The view, a breathtaking set of flashes and purple lightning, still in calm seas, nature’s way to advise us what lied ahead, magnificent and menacing all together.
The calm before the storm. I heard this before and thought of it as an expression, but I was proven wrong. It is as real as what happened next.
I truly couldn’t say how or when did it start, but the wind raised severely and with furious anger, struck the beam of the boat with a speed of about 50 knots. Minutes seemed like hours. Flashes everywhere. Wind howling and water squeezing through every possible opening.
Andrew and Sue tried to put the boat in the best possible position, while Nivi and I just wondered when would it all end.
The boat kept heeling over more and more.
And of course, as everything happens at the same time, we could smell smoke. The wind generator, which by the way was being hit and damaged by a halyard, was overcharging the batteries. One problem solved.
Then, we realized the anchor winch was enabled. Another cause for the smoke smell, also solved after we turned it off and Andrew went out to check where the anchor was.
When the front had passed and Andrew managed to put the boat into position, we were wet and honestly, quite frightened.
A true demonstration of power.
Being in the middle of a storm cell is an experience that makes you respect the wind and the sea like no other.
