Gratitude’s at Horse latitudes and "The Cold front"

The Serendipitous Six 

Constructors

  Horse latitudes-Between 30 Degrees to 38 Degrees in the north and south of equator a layer of high pressure bet extends which is marked by subsiding air that gets heated during descent. It is said that Spanish sailors ferrying horses to the West Indies were usually struck for months in these calm waters and had to throw their horses into the sea to conserve water for themselves. This led to use of the term Horse Latitudes.

Boom Boom!

 Few days after crossing the Tropic of Capricorn we approached the Latitude to our destination Fremantle, Australia  the strong south easterly winds gave way to very light north westerly winds which came as quite a relief after the strong south easterlies made us toss and turn we spread our wings a little and took our gennekar for some light downwind sailing the gen smelled fresher than any of us onboard reminding of the fresh water wash we gave to it back at home port before taking it onboard we offered a little gratitude to these light winds that helped us stretch a bit and soon prepare for the approaching cold front which gave us south westerly winds taking us east towards destination.

Cold front- Defined as a transition zone where a cold air mass is replacing a warmer air mass in the wake of developing extra tropical cyclone. The air behind a cold front is noticeably colder and drier than the air ahead of tithe replacement is often sudden so that the warm air rapidly rises to form cumulus or cumulonimbus clouds the associated weather results in squall and thunderstorms leading to heavy precipitation the tail left behind by a cold front results in further wave depressions.-source-mariners handbook

Climbing the Mountains

As soon as the weather prediction system on board pointed to us the approaching cold front ahead and the strong winds that it was getting along ,sea securing of the boat commenced on-board five days before the approach ..all loose items were tightly tied all screws blocks and shackles were checked..the winter gears were taken out to accompany wet weather gears all internal arrangement shifted from starboard to port the crew also started aligning themselves shifting weight from the right to the left supposedly two cold fronts became one The barometric pressure was noted and observed to be falling every hour with the temperature turning colder.. every watch was on their toes noting the pressure at every tick of the hour. And there it came ..it was exactly the way we read it and we were all there to witness it the sky darkened even in the middle hour of the day clouds were packed right next to each other like an army of soldiers behind enemy lane there was sudden chill in the air that our teeth started clattering. The cold front got along winds stronger than we have ever seen colder beyond what we thought and rain heavier than we could ever fathom.. It blinded our view making it impossible to see the person standing right ahead the rain hurt any exposed area of the skin the wind screamed in the ears that weren’t covered and the swell tossed the crew that wasn’t tethered.. The sail that was fully up until few days ago taking all the wind it could get came down reef after reef and reduced to fourth reef …Head sail furled..the high waves(atleast 5m high)could be witnessed breaking at their crest.. And skipper sends PCS stating “sea-Very Rough” 

After-Before

Water Water everywhere

I believe now the readers can excuse us for the late blog post we try to update at the earliest given opportunity

All the philosophy preached by the crew went for a toss once hit by cold front as skipper quoted Gita saying “do the work dont worry about the results” but hell we were in the battlefield in the blink of an eye and thrown in warzone…So cold front has left us cold from back and front also…cooking reduced to preparing maggi and consuming it from the cauldron itself to reduce the number of dishes a crew that eats together stays together. how many layers of clothes are you wearing ??ask the crew 9 says swat cat 6 says Gator we are from the hills this is how it is there say the rest stepping out for a suntan..now you know why we don’t have refrigerator onboard..sleeping space for 4 offwatchkeepers has reduced to three bunks still they don’t mind bunding up in one bunk while sleeping “cold enough to chill my bones….i don’t understand why youre so cold to me..” puko hums as she steps out for her watch finding it difficult to fit inside her undersized winter gear-wardrobe malfunction the girl has overlooked her vanity and has landed into trouble with her boatgear hopefully we will find a solution in the next port of call that we are soon going to hit..although her attention overlooked her own wintergear some attention to detail has won her applause from the crew(one dhaap in the back from each) for the following 

1. Storing extra drinking water in the boat that the crew is lavishly devouring after trouble with watermaker coming up with water management  for next few days

2. Getting to the bottom of looking into watermaker aage peeche upar neeche up and down driving Croc to open every joint collectively detect the trouble area and rectifying it –Yeah the watermaker is functional!

3. Her never give up attitude to open waste water tank with  skipper is highly appreciated 

(Now go puko leave me to continue writing the blog you’ve occupied enough space already)

A few days ago a splash of wave got threw some squids on the deck as they lay there swatcat and shou did not let their sacrifice go waste and immediately marinated them that day both girls had tastiest meal in a long time while giving a hard time to vegetarians(Croc and Gator) onboard as the odour cannot escape the boat with closed portholes(too cold outside) gosh! did they just take out tinned fish? come croc lets go hangout for a while!

The Patila Maggi

Shou has finshed her book sense and sensibility lets see how much sense she makes now she is now shifed from preparing lunch to making dinner(middle watch to dog watch) is busy making the perfect paranthas that she is so amused with that others aren’t allowed to do it..

That’s all folks Happy Dhanteras May you gets lots of new utensils while we eat maggi from the same “Patila” spreading love and togetherness 

561 miles from first port of call

Not as cold as it was until yesterday(that’s why the blog)-sweaters off

Cheerios!