June 16, 2011 Day 12 "Gulf Crossing"

A Crash in the Night!!

We are still motor/sailing. It seems the Gulf is doing the usual opposite than we are used to. It is getting choppy & rough at nighttime now. And because of that, we could've had a major catastrophe during the night with 2 of our crewmembers!  Thank God they are OK! 

While Dean & I were on watch...the boat would lurch occasionally when hit by a large wave. All of a sudden my tummy flip flopped when I heard some yelling down below. I hollered through the companionway, "Who's yelling?" and I heard "We both are!!" I could barely make out Randy & Rob both on the floor in front of the settee. Apparently Rob was heading to the forward cabin when the boat lurched and he fell ontop of Randy with a direct hit to his knees as he was lying on his side, sound asleep, curled up on the floor where is was cooler. Rob took the hit directly to his kidney. Both claimed they were OK but I could tell both of them were in really great pain! I was afraid Randy was going into shock as he start to sweat & shake real bad. I kept an eye on them both and kept asking if they were OK. Man they scared me to death...plus here we are way out in the middle of the gulf & at night! You can never be too cautious or careful while out to sea. You never know when the unexpected with occur!

It took quite a while for the pain to subside with both of them and a long while before either of them could go back to sleep.

Rob said later Randy was lucky that he (Rob) had lost 100 pounds otherwise it probably would've broken his legs or shattered his knees!

I thank God that they are both going to be OK!!

Those of us in the cockpit really enjoyed the  MoonSet & SunRise this morning. Awesome!!

  

"Moon Set"
If you look closely at the horizon you can see all the platforms!

"Beautiful Sunrise"

At 0625 hr it appears we are exiting the busiest area of the minefield.  :-) There are still some platforms ahead but it doesn't appear to be as many...at least not for awhile. We shut down the engine after 7.1 hours of motor/sailing. Under full sail we were doing 5.1 to 5.3 knots.
It looks like it will be a partly cloudy/overcast day. The winds are SW @ 12 knots - waves 1'.
We have covered well over 400 nautical miles. 

We get up close & personal with one of the platforms

Zoomin' in....

It is like a mini city up there!

Imagine...living and working on one of these platforms out here in the middle of the Gulf!

What if there were a really bad storm? Would the waves reach that high?

About 0715 hr, our phones start receiving texts & ringing off the wall. We must be pulling signals from the Oil Rigs out here. Tom (our Son) called to check on us and my baby Sister Kristy's texts are catching up to us! Hopefully we are not zapped with a really outlandish phone bill next month!!

The water is turning into a murky green color out here! :-( 

I won't be able to see the porpoises as well!

Darn it!!

Randy logpost: 1128 hr: Gettin' over cast. Winds 11 kts 220 degrees; Boat speed 4.9
Position - 28 44.414/w 90 46.165
Waves climbing to between 2' & 4'

Might we end up in some nasty Gulf weather after all?

1445 hr... Lowered all sails & started engine in preparations for 2 Storm cells heading our way, one on each side of us!! I hurriedly fed my crew Brown Rice Salad & the last of our bread rations.

Position - 28 47.6/w 91 07.4
Gale force winds:Waves 6-8'

Battening down the hatches!!
         It's my story!!!

JUST KIDDING!!! 

There really were 2 storm cells...And we really did drop sails & prepare for it! 

Winds only about 18 knots & waves 1' -2'. 

Our Way Too! motored on thru...still on her course...right between the 2 cells!

I think we maybe had 5 minutes of rain but it wasn't hard enough to rinse the salt off the boat!

As you can see below Capt' Randy was prepared for the worst!

Lightening dissipater??

As we get closer to the West side of the Gulf we start to see new sights....

Not so pretty weed beds! They are full of unsightly garbage and junk. It's sad to see all this crap in the waters!!

We are careful not to sail through them and load up our keel.







The water has become dark & murky color...

I wonder if the Oil Workers, Tankers and Rigs are most of the cause?

The Crew after the horrible storm! Can you tell they weren't too stressed?! ;-)

Nope...not stressed at all!
I do believe my Daddy is finally feeling much better! He's not over it...but acting a bit more himself again.
For that I am so thankful!

As we head into another beautiful starry night on the Gulf of Mexico....

Back into the minefields we go!!