Sailing the Dream by Mike Perham

Author:Mike Perham
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of New England

34

Knockdown!

Wedged inside the cabin at the chart table, I tried to work on the chart, bounced every which way by the broiling sea. Every time the boat charged over a wave she landed with a deafening thump. This constant battering was pretty tough to deal with.

I was in the cabin when the freak wave came thundering through the darkness from the port side. I didn't see it coming, but I heard its roar. It scooped the boat up and slammed it flat on its side in an instant. There was no time to react. All I could do was hold my breath and somersault with the boat as my world was flipped upside down. The noise was just insane. It sounded as though the boat was being ripped apart.

The fear was immediate. I knew this could be the end, not only of the dream but of me. Time seemed to slow as we went further and further over, objects flying past my head. As they did, I thought, ‘That's broken, and that's broken, and that's broken …’ Suddenly a 20-litre jerry can of diesel flew through the air and cracked open as it smashed into the side of the cabin.

The boat turned further on to its side, past 90 degrees. I skidded as I fought to keep my balance and realized I was steadying myself with my feet against the roof.

‘Oh crap,’ I thought.

This was about as bad as it could get. The boat was on her side, keel out and mast in. I'd heard stories of sailors being trapped like this for ten minutes before they were righted. Speed had dropped to a few knots. A wave could sweep in from behind at any moment, turning or flipping the boat fully, ripping the mast from the deck, bending steel as if it were rubber.

I was in a Force 10 storm in the middle of the ocean, somewhere between Australia and Africa, hundreds of miles from any shipping lane. Not a good time to be sailing over 90 degrees to the water.

As diesel fumes filled the cabin, I thought about the mast. I guessed that it was underwater. There was no way it would survive the strength of these waves. They would bend, twist and snap it off the boat like matchwood.

I felt the boat dip in the water as the back of the rogue wave finally passed underneath. Then the boat strained to right herself.

Come on!

I held my breath as I felt the boat start to come the right way.

Come on! Come on! You can do it!

Gravity gradually took hold of the keel and I felt an enormous wave of relief as the boat flipped back up with another tremendous crash, almost as quickly as she'd fallen.

She took off immediately. I gripped the table, terrified. I looked around me and saw so many things scattered and broken but I didn't care about that, I was just relieved to be upright again.

No time for shock. Deep breath. Damage report. First, I was in one piece.

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