DAY 34: Storm ahead

Longitudes change in a fast phase. At the Equator, one longitude degree is about 111 km and here it is about 20km, but now I think I have mumbled enough about navigation side already.

Today we celebrate the christening of the ship which happened one year ago by Mrs Tiina Lencioni. I made a slideshow for the crew, so they can have a small chance to see what it requires to build a cargo carrier and how many different professionals have to be involved. Our cook made a chocolate cake which was excellent thinking that I didn’t even know that we had any chocolate on board.

Gale wind is again here. The North Sea during this time of the year is all about choosing which one of the gales you want to encounter. Usually, it is not possible to avoid all of them and this is the case with us as well. We have three gales coming and the second one will be a storm with a predicted significant wave height of more than 10 metres. Statistically, this means the highest waves are about 19 meters. After consulting weather routeing service and our Operator, I decided to let the first one rumble ahead of us until it is not possible to avoid it due to our courses and the second we will let go pass ahead of us for good. Then the third will come stern of us.

The first gale has a significant wave height of about 6 meters and it is not so bad. The second we still could manage without risk, but some equipment might get broken. This is possible to avoid so we choose to steam slow against the wind after the first gale until the weather is improved further at the south. Other option would have been to slow down immediately but then we would spend more time at the first gale. It is still the fact that we have to respect the nature but luckily modern technology gives us a good possibility to make accurate forecasts to make proper planning.