Turku, 6th of March 2018

The Roaring Forties

At 40S 113W 10.45 am, a rogue wave crashed on Sarema’s stern. It ripped apart the windbreak canvas, flooded the cockpit, and swooshed down the companionway into the saloon, the galley and the side cabin. Pandemonium! On its way through the saloon, the wave drowned our radio, air purifier, battery charger, two inverters, egg-timer, Pekka’s PC, Riitta’s MacBook Air, and the computer we used for navigation and communication. Our desperate attempts at resuscitation resulted in the revival of the egg-timer, but that too stopped functioning after a few days.

The single positive thing that we could come up with while mopping the floors and trying to find a place to dry the soaking clothes, cushions, and mattresses was that this time at least we didn’t get a rope around our propeller!

It has been said that ‘Sailing is like standing under an ice cold shower, tearing up thousand-euro notes’. Our present sentiments exactly! 

On the whole, the Roaring Forties were a huge disappointment. We had thought  that the prevailing and notoriously strong westerly winds would take us speedily to Chile but what did we find: after the squall with the rogue wave that flooded our boat, nothing but confused seas with winds coming from all possible directions, also from the east. But despite the non-cooperation of the winds and the waves, we finally arrived in Puerto Montt, Chile after 34 days at sea. Our good boat Sarema is now on the hard at Club Nautico Reloncavi, and her crew have returned to Europe to recuperate from their (too!) long and arduous season.

Sarema’s homeward-bound journey will continue in the autumn, hopefully under more favourable circumstances!