Ericsson 3 Leg 4 Day 7

Sledge hammered

It takes a while to get use to it. And you will never be entirely comfortable with it.  I’m talking about the movement of the boat in seas over two metres.

Today we have seen wind of almost 50 knots and seas that I’m pretty sure measured around eight metres…

You’re looking straight up in the sky when it hits you, and well over the top it’s free falling.  One, two three and bam!

When you land, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry. It’s surrealistic. Like sitting in the head of a sledgehammer when the world’s strongest man is smashing it through a block of cement.

Inside the boat, at the front by the galley, it’s worst. The bangs and crashes are sometimes so brutal that you really wonder when and not if the boat is going to break. And, if you don’t hold on properly, and have a good place too put your feet, you will hurt yourself, badly.

Biggest problem is that the boat isn’t really made for sailing in these kinds of conditions and it’s essential to look after it all the time. Our boat captain Jens Dolmer is actually not taking part in the watch system anymore. His main task now is to take care of and look after the boat, so we know how hard we can push.

For the last couple of hours he has been occupied with fixing a diesel leak. Usually there is a really bad smell inside the boat, containing sweat and dirt, but this is almost worse. Now we have an intense sticky smell of diesel occupying our nostrils. The emergency tank started leaking during the bumpy ride but I am not worried, there are very few things our farmer/sailor Jens can’t fix.

Gustav Morin - MCM