(I remember this title of a famous book when I was young, one of the few contemporary western books to be printed during the communist era in Romania. However the book has nothing to do with the waves that were upon us these days.)
There were three waves of weather (frontal systems) going over us in the past days and that kept us busy and at times grumpy because the relentless motion of the boat, seasickness, tiredness.

So on day three the radio continued to call every hour for a lookout for a wooden boat departed from Africa, with 21 people on board that never reached the Canary Islands. Later in the night, while I was on watch the wind started to pick up and a sudden change of direction announced the first frontal system which we expected, but 12 hours later.
I changed course to follow he wind change and soon after that I heard a terrible noise coming from inside the boat. Given our previous bad experiences with the engine I immediately suspected our workhorse but strangely the sound came from the front part of the boat.
It stopped before I could figure out the source. The boat suddenly lost 30% in speed.
As the wind increased, I called Huw to help me reduce the surface of the mainsail (to put a reef in the main, in sailing language).
After that, and afraid that either we’ve hit something or hooked a fishing net, I walked to the front of the boat just to see the surprise: our anchor, that was fixed with a bolt and a rope was hanging free at the end of its 70m of chain. We stopped the boat (not an easy think in the 20kn of wind) and hoisted the anchor.

Day 4. Another night, another frontal system. The wind continued to increase and we had to go for our smaller head sail. Another front passed on top of us with the typical rain and wind gusts. This time with thunderstorms. It was somewhat interesting, somewhat frightening watching the lightning in the distance and hoping it won’t get too close. It didn’t . Seas mounted up, as forecast, to 5 meter waves. It was just a gentle and sometimes annoying rolling motion of he boat as the waves came from our starboard (right side).

Day 5. We gout our forecast for the day and braced for the third wave (front) that announced winds in excess of 30 kn (60 km/h or force 6 to seven in marine language).
And it came, with lot of rain, wind gusting to 40 kn … a sleepless night. But at least it only lasted 6 hours and we’re now sailing happily along towards the tropical latitudes which we expect to reach in 3-4 days. Everyone is happier now!

Sailing is funny. It reminds me of playing golf, when after a miserable day you wanted to throw away your clubs and never to play again, but it was enough to hit one good shot, just one to become a happy player. I found the same with sailing: after a few miserable days one may wonder what’s the point of being in a shaky boat, wet and cold, but one good sunny sailing day and all doubts vanish.
My watch is starting now and I look forward to a silent night, watching the stars and the waves.
Back soon! Seven Seas Adventure out and standing by on channel 16. (standard marine lingo).