Force 9

[anteros_lmc]

Well we weathered the gale and finally made landfall last night. Can't say it was much fun though. I survived relatively unscathed but poor daughter and partner were miserable :( Just as we were putting to sea, the captain cheerfully announced that there as a "fully westerly gale blowing and the seas high". Lovely!

Just so you can share the experience, I risked life and limb (well I stood up and staggered to the window, which kinda amounts to the same thing) to bring you this exclusive footage of a force 9 gale in the Minch. This is filmed from the observation lounge in the bows of the ship, at first you don't really get a good impression of the height of the waves because you're looking down from above. You get a better idea once the wave breaks right over the top of the ship!

I've often thought that if I could have any super power, it would be sea legs. I could have done with them last night I tell you ;)

Comments

[vespican.livejournal.com]

Coincidentally this fits right in with an excerpt I just posted from Sailing Dangerous Waters. I can remember being below deck on Constellation or Forrestal, during rough weather. About the only thing I'd notice is that sometimes I felt really light, like I was nearly floating above the deck, and at others, that I weighed a ton and it was really hard to move. Due in fact to the vertical movement of the ship, but without visual cues, all one had to go on was one's reaction to gravity.
Dave

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I like that feeling!

Have you ever done that thing where you are riding in elevator, and just as it starts to down you jump up in the air? Fun.

Of course, most elevators have cameras now, so I could be seen jumping like a fool!

Sea legs look pretty funny at the end of deployment when 6,000 people are walking really weird! It was ever thus.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it did sometimes remind me of being in an elevator. Carriers are relatively benign, even in fairly heavy weather, but I've been told the destroyers had nonskid tread on the lower bulkheads, just in case.
Dave

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Nonskid tread on lower bulkheads? I'm not sure I'm liking the sound of that very much!

[vespican.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm glad I didn't serve on "small boys", ie. destroyers, frigates, etc. They rolled/heeled so much more than carriers.
Dave

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Small boys? Love that!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

You like it?! You're a mad woman! I must admit I don't mind it too much as long as I'm lying down, but being vertical is another business all together!

Sea legs look pretty funny at the end of deployment when 6,000 people are walking really weird!
Ha! I'd never thought about it that way round. That must look very strange indeed!

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I've heard other people describe that below decks sensation but I haven't experienced it myself. We had plenty of gravitational variation on the crossing on Saturday, but it must be really weird to experience that without the visual cues!

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I think the below decks sensation might be more upsetting for those with sensitive stomachs. I do remember that I always slept well when the sea was up.
Dave

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Ros and I felt sick just looking at that. That's why we refuse to sail to Jersey.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Awww come on, where's your sense of adventure?!

[charliecochrane.livejournal.com]

I puked it up in the Alderney race...

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Oh dear :} Do you get seasick writing Hornblower fanfic?!

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Only when I think too much of Horatio's face.

[amaraal.livejournal.com]

Wow! I need a ship :) And sea legs *g*

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I suspect ships are a lot more fun when you have a good pair of sea legs to go with them!

[katriona-s.livejournal.com]

Ouch... your video made me get seasick! - I have been always a terribly poor sailor.
I've wanted to visit Hebrides some day, but it seems better to take plane... X(

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

You have a much better chance of getting a good crossing in the summer but there's a lot to be said for taking the plane :} On the other hand, if you do get a good crossing, it might look like this... :)

[katriona-s.livejournal.com]

This is gorgeous! I love these calm sea! :)

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes, this is much more pleasant isn't it? :)

[nodbear.livejournal.com]

I can only just about watch a sea like this now

though I used to have sea legs they are more like jelly legs now !

AS dramatic as I imagined = glad you all were safe landed in the end

thought about our boys in all weathers and specially about a certain night in 1797 ...

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

thought about our boys in all weathers and specially about a certain night in 1797 ...

Yes I couldn't help reflecting yet again on the sheer madness of actually fighting a battle at sea at the height of a storm...

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

I quite like rough seas.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Mad woman! You obviously have a stronger constitution than I do! :}