There are passenger cruise ships prepared for 30 foot seas and heavy winds. For example, Seabourn cruises to Antarctica four times during the Antarctic spring and summer, from November to February starting from either Buenos Aires or Valparaiso (depending upon which direction to Antarctica they are going). Their ships are quite new and have been fitted for the more rigorous trips.
Ships of this class aren't going to have the same kinds of problems as the larger fair weather passenger ships because they have stabilizers which mitigate some of the rolling at sea and the interior of the ships are designed with passenger safety and comfort in mind. The furniture and even the galleys are designed to accommodate high seas. However, if you go on one of these cruises you DO have to prepare yourself for the adventure. Many passengers bring a variety of sea sickness remedies and prescriptions are readily available before one departs.
Perhaps the passengers that choose to cross Drake's Passage to Antarctica know the weather will be a lot like those recent photos from the Royal Caribbean Cruise ship that ran afoul of bad weather along the eastern coast of the U.S. Passengers heading south to the Polar Boundary are also rewarded with the spectacular experience of visiting Antarctica and experiencing close encounters with nature, ice bergs, whales, seals and penguins, not to mention abundant sea birds like the Wandering Albatross which has a nine foot wing span.
When I was about 20 years old my cousin and I and my girlfriend almost died just sailing to Malibu from Marina Del Rey in his then brand new Columbia 22 (sleeps about 6) sailboat. It was designed a heavy weather round the world fiberglass boat or likely we wouldn't have survived this by the way.
We were young and my cousin (a brand new Lawyer) in 1968 had just bought this boat and I wanted to go SCUBA diving off Malibu. We did this but as we sailed out of Marina Del Rey harbor we wondered what the Red Flags meant. (Later we learned this means "DON'T GO OUT IN YOUR BOAT!" (it's too dangerous or will be soon).
However, it looked fine to us going out and up and we headed towards Malibu. We stopped and anchored at Malibu. I was wondering why the underwater currents were so very bad as I Scuba dived by myself off the ship. Then I came up to complain and looked into my girlfriend's eyes. She was terrified and my cousin looked very worried too. I noticed the waves were getting bigger. My cousin later confided in me that he was considering beaching the boat if it got any worse because as a new sailor he wasn't prepared for this. So, he was pretty angry when I got back on board and told me I had to untangle the anchor from the seaweed because it got fouled in the seaweed. I did so but started to get a little sea sick from being bounced around in the increasing bad waves.
Then it got worse as the waves grew up to about 20 foot waves. Mostly though we survived it all by keeping level heads. (We had to do this because my girlfriend was starting to freak out because she thought she was going to die. My cousin and I knew we might die too but had to be brave so my girlfriend didn't get any more hysterical than she already was.
We survived because the rollers were going the same direction as Marina Del Rey from Malibu. Otherwise we wouldn't have survived this. My cousin considered beaching the boat but by then 10 foot waves were breaking at Malibu or higher so I knew one or more of us would likely die in 10 foot waves in a 22 foot sailboat trying to go ashore in that to beach the boat.
So, luckily we tried to sail to Marina Del Rey and we survived the 20 foot rollers and the choppy water on top of this.
It was a very strange experience wondering whether we actually were going to survive this or not.
First we were down in a trough where there is no wind so the boat is unstable when in the trough. Then the waves would catch up with us with winds 20 or more miles per hour heading towards marina del rey along with the waves (rollers). Then as the rollers caught up with us we would literally be surfing down the face of 20 foot rollers. Then this would put us eventually on top of the rollers and then with the boat facing up we slid down the back of the rollers back down into the trough. So, after about one hour or so of this we breathed a sigh of relief as we sailed into the Marina Del Rey harbor.
My girlfriend said she would NEVER sail with us ever again. She didn't.
But, my cousin and I just laughed and kept sailing because anything you can walk away from is a good day and a good adventure!
We eventually sailed to Catalina Island and went snorkeling there. But mostly it is weekend sailing closer to shore. Over the years he moved further south Towards Newport beach with this boat and his next one which is a 25 footer. So, we have been sailing together now since 1968 when he first bought his Columbia 22 sailboat.
No comments:
Post a Comment