Egersund
Kopervik to Egersund
The 65 nautical mile route from Kopervik to Egersund will turn out to be a sneak preview of our trip home. But we don't know that yet. Arriving in Egersund, we think we survived the most horrible leg of them all.
First of all it is twice as long, because it's dead against the wind and 'Easy' isn't very good at beating up. Certainly not in a swell. And waves we get! By nightfall - if there is such a thing in this 24 hour daylight - the anemometer's needle is at a steady 30 knots with an occasional 35 knot wind gust. Our course brings us very close to the Coral Bank, where the see floor rises from 300 meters to 100 meters, probaly explaining the 3 meter steep waves. We probably would've been better off staying in deep water close to the Norwegian shore and tacking a few times more.
Worse than the sea conditions is that we seem to have killed the service battery. Without that battery the autohelm is unusable, unless we keep the engine running. We prefer steering 'Easy' by hand, regretting this decision when it starts to rain....
While everything on board slowly gets wet, the gas supply fails. The supply is protected with a solenoid valve on the cylinder, which shortcuts. Damn! No more Mackerel. Not that we crave Mackerel at moments like these - we both feel a hint of motion sickness - but not being able to make tea is annoying.
For the first time this trip we treat the motion sickness with scopolamine. An marvelous drug, but not without side effects. One very peculiar one is the sensation that you're awake all the time, even if your dream is proof of being asleep.
The 65 nautical mile route from Kopervik to Egersund will turn out to be a sneak preview of our trip home. But we don't know that yet. Arriving in Egersund, we think we survived the most horrible leg of them all.
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| The reward: Fresh Mackerel |
First of all it is twice as long, because it's dead against the wind and 'Easy' isn't very good at beating up. Certainly not in a swell. And waves we get! By nightfall - if there is such a thing in this 24 hour daylight - the anemometer's needle is at a steady 30 knots with an occasional 35 knot wind gust. Our course brings us very close to the Coral Bank, where the see floor rises from 300 meters to 100 meters, probaly explaining the 3 meter steep waves. We probably would've been better off staying in deep water close to the Norwegian shore and tacking a few times more.
Worse than the sea conditions is that we seem to have killed the service battery. Without that battery the autohelm is unusable, unless we keep the engine running. We prefer steering 'Easy' by hand, regretting this decision when it starts to rain....
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| Egersund our last stop before the journey home |
For the first time this trip we treat the motion sickness with scopolamine. An marvelous drug, but not without side effects. One very peculiar one is the sensation that you're awake all the time, even if your dream is proof of being asleep.
Egersund honours my favorite pets
We hose the boat down with fresh water en realise that before we get any coffee in the morning, I'll have to repair the gas supply first....
(And then the battery, and then a temporary fix for one of the cabinets, and then.... )