On Sat, 6 Jan 2007 12:02:38 -0500, "Roger Long"
wrote:

What kills boats in these latitudes and waves of this size (probably 20 feet
since he said 40) is being dropped off the steep face of ones that are
nearly breaking. Imagine your boat picked up by a crane 15 - 20 feet and
rolled so the masts are pointed downwards. Then just let it go.

Nice description.

I usually say something like "tossed down into the trough from the top
of a 20 foot wave" but it all amounts to the same thing, and it's not
at all uncommon. I've also heard it described as "falling off a wave"
which is fairly apt, and not difficult to do if you have some speed on
and the waves are steep.

One aspect of big waves is that they often appear as a hole in the
water instead of looming overhead.

The most interesting part of this IMHO is the lady single hander
coming to save him! She, in a tiny Southern Cross 28 sloop, versus his
heavy steel 44' ketch.
Gordon

Gordon wrote:
The most interesting part of this IMHO is the lady single hander
coming to save him! She, in a tiny Southern Cross 28 sloop, versus his
heavy steel 44' ketch.
Gordon

You've (and everyone else, have got to look at her web site). This lady is
something else.

http://www.donnalange.com

I'm not sure she has the street smarts I'd want to have to under take the
trip she's on now but she replaced a propeller all alone in the middle of
the ocean so she certainly makes up for it with other qualities. I suspect
it's no accident that her little 28 footer skated through the conditions
that killed that big, tough, 44 footer (In just 35 knots?).

We should all buy her CD to support this fellow cruiser who is doing it big
time on a shoestring. Scroll way down in her site.

--
Roger Long

Roger Long wrote:
Gordon wrote:
The most interesting part of this IMHO is the lady single hander
coming to save him! She, in a tiny Southern Cross 28 sloop, versus his
heavy steel 44' ketch.
Gordon

You've (and everyone else, have got to look at her web site). This lady
is something else.

http://www.donnalange.com

I'm not sure she has the street smarts I'd want to have to under take
the trip she's on now but she replaced a propeller all alone in the
middle of the ocean so she certainly makes up for it with other
qualities. I suspect it's no accident that her little 28 footer skated
through the conditions that killed that big, tough, 44 footer (In just
35 knots?).

We should all buy her CD to support this fellow cruiser who is doing it
big time on a shoestring. Scroll way down in her site.


Actually, she TRIED several times to replace the prop but couldn't get
the key in place in the rough weather. How about where she hand steered
for three weeks with no sleep!
Gordon

Gordon wrote:

Actually, she TRIED several times to replace the prop but couldn't

Trying is as impressive as doing it in this case. I was just skimming
through the site on a friend's laptop this morning so I haven't gotten the
whole story yet.

--
Roger Long