Many believe number seven to be lucky. The seventh day of February proved to be just that. It’s seven weeks since we dropped the lines in Cape Town; the Amundsen Sea was the seventh Antarctic sea that we would cross through; and the seventh storm of the voyage was approaching soon. For a couple of days now, we have been sailing along the 70th parallel. With humidity in the air, Katharsis II became covered with ice, which started to form on the shrouds, the mast and the ropes. The icy peak of the mast resembled a decorated Christmas tree. The wind transducer stopped functioning. These obstacles were a hindrance to our sailing and decision-making abilities. For a week, the visibility has been limited to a few hundred metres. In fact, it has often been down to a couple of boatlengths. We were sailing through a milky mist, accompanied only by snowstorms and often had to shovel the snowy powder off the deck. As for the icebergs, while appearing less frequently than off east Antarctica, they seemed older and thus more disintegrated, with deadly brash ice surrounding them. Our eyes strain while searching for icy shadows emerging through the surface of the sea. It is a much easier task now that we no longer have the sprayhood, which limits visibility significantly. It was completely wrecked by a violent wave during a previous storm in the Ross Sea. Consequently, we were forced to disassemble it. But now it means we have nothing to shield ourselves from icy bullets of spray, though we do at least have a second small dodger to protect the companionway. Our lucky seven has brought drier air, the ice is beginning to melt, and even the wind instruments have started to work again. Around 2200, Hanna, who is on watch, suggests that we reef the sails. We’ve been sailing with a second reef in the main. Article continues below… The sea is rather calm and the wind instruments say it’s blowing 25 knots. I think we could still wait, especially considering the weather forecast, which predicts the wind won’t exceed 35 knots. However, barely a half an hour later I have to jump back outside. The wind is far stronger than the gauge was indicating and as the conditions continue to worsen I decide to drop the main. It’s the right decision. The wind rises to over 50 knots, and from time to time, exceeds 60 knots. The waves start to build up, making it harder to manoeuvre in between the icy obstacles. After three hours of running with the storm with the reefed staysail only, we sail in between some icebergs. In fact we are entering a cemetery of growlers. The ice is everywhere, and it’s impossible to sail around them safely. We cannot slow down so we turn into irons to stop. Then we slowly start sailing against the wind and the enormous waves towards a giant iceberg that we’d already passed. We struggle for an … Continue reading Sailing Antarctica: Record-breaking voyage around the southern continent