Hello from the center of the storm

March 5

Forget everything I wrote about the rocking and rolling before. I have to say we have not experienced any of that “for realz” till today.  The waves are much bigger than I remember and the washing machine effect much more dramatic.

My roommate and I spent most of the night securing thing that we thought were quite secure already. It is hard to explain (and predict sometimes) what will be unstable. For example, the non-skid cover on the table is amazingly helpful for many items big and small. Even small and lightweight items manage to roll without it. Heavy items are sometimes more stable, but you want them secured as well, as they will be rolling more dramatically.

All closet drawers need to be locked, otherwise they can open and annoy you with sounds in the middle of the night. Also beware about opening up a closet door as the conglomerate of things inside is unpredictable and it might fall out of unexpected places. I learned it the hard way ;(

I also have no pictures of it since during the crazy dance of the ship I am mainly holding for my life. I only managed to take a picture of the computer screen which record rolling angle:

it does not seem like a big number, but think about a 12 degree slope you are going down by foot, by bike or by car - it’s pretty big!

Despite the heavy rolling I am feeling ok, especially when I'm not staring at the computer screen.

December 21, 2016

We finally left Cape Town just a little short of midnight today, so officially marked our 24 hour at sea point.
It has been rather rocky ever since we left, becoming worse throughout the day. I will not lie to you, I felt sick most of the day. I think it was mainly due to my general exhaustion of the last week of port call. I needed that break honestly.
Once again both the crew and my fellow colleagues have been wonderful, helping me out with the tasks I needed to complete today and were not physically able to do. What would I have done without them? Alas, I have been helping out everyone a lot too. What a great group of people and I am lucky to be a part of it.

Science wise we did manage to do a test CTD cast today at 2 PM ship time (12 PM UTC). We only went to 200m, it was rather dangerous and rocky. The swell was up to 8 m when we pulled the rosette up - the crew thought that all scientists are a little crazy :).

One thing that I absolutely needed to get up for today was a boat drill. Happy to inform all of you that I "survived", emergency gear is ok and aside from a terrible smell inside the rescue boats they are ok, equipped with water, dry rations, satellite emergency finders etc.

The boat drill and the CTD cast (where I have to admit I was mainly observing) wiped me out and I went back to bed. I did try to help out with translating different minor and not so minor issues on the way, but I decided that my own personal wellbeing should come first. So I had the best nap before dinner and woke up feeling much better.

The weather is predicted to get worse tomorrow, so we are not doing another cast. I am planning to sleep it off and get more adjusted to the rocky seas cause there is more to come. Just to give my observant readers a point of reference - my cabin is one deck below the main deck - the row of windows in the orange: section 

 This is a picture of Tryoshnikov docked in Cape Town for your reference of how high the swell is. 

So today we had water splashing into our cabin window pretty much throughout all day. I wonder what "tomorrow will be worse" mean for our veto out of the window. I mean it changes, sometimes it water,and sometimes it is all clouds. Cool stuff when you are not sick because of it :).

We are also changing clock during the night tomorrow - we will go one hour ahead. Oh, and internet is very limited, so I no pictures so far. It might get a little better or it might get worse, hard to predict...
Till later,
Masha

P.S. That’s how the storm looked before midnight: the snapshot from Global winds map :

Stormy seas of 1959

While I am getting myself and my stuff ready and packed - I thought I'd share a note from my grandfather's journal. While  my ship Akademik Tryoshnikov is following the route of Ob',  I'm skipping the Atlantic leg of our journey (Leg0). I will be joining in Cape Town - our departure is scheduled for December the 20th and I will arrive in South Afrcia a few days early to explore, deal with science cargo loading and buy last-minute necessities. I guess this is one of luxuries I get to enjoy doing research 50+ years later. I get to fly to my scientific destination, rather than taking a long trip on an icebreaker across the equator (and I can tell you it gets terribly hot inside). Oh and one more thing, the Bay of Biscay gets quite stormy during this time of the year. 

Enjoy!

Russian, followed by English translation:

20 ноября 1959
Атлантика

Третьи сутки шторм. Сперва это было даже забавно, особенно днём, потом стало надоедать, теперь опротивело вконец. Описывать штормовое море – занятие хитрое, пожалуй, не для моего скромного пера. Да, собственно говоря, это вероятно даже и не шторм, а просто качка. Но качка грандиозная. Во всяком случае бывалые экспедиционные зубры, идущие в Антарктиду во второй, и даже в третий раз, такой качки не припоминают. Крен судна временами достигал 35 и более градусов. Я раньше никогда не мог бы себе представить, что это такое. Описать трудно. Всё летит со своих мест, мечется и гремит. Забавный случай был вчера со мной в кают-компании во время чая. От внезапного толчка я вместе с креслом вылетел через голову назад сквозь занавеску в музыкальный салон, где спокойно и доел свой хлеб с маслом, сожалею о чае, оставленном в кают-компании, куда постеснялся вернуться. Здорово качает! Прием пищи – совершенно акробатический номер во время качки. В отдельные моменты со столов летят тарелки, бачки с супом, хлебницы и все прочее.

Работать трудно, если не сказать, что вовсе невозможно. Временами охватывает апатия, не хочется ничего делать. До того надоедает эта качка. Вылезаешь тогда на верхней мостик, оттуда здорово видно море – океан. Носятся близ судна сумасшедшие буревестники (я все удивлялся, что заставляет их в такую гнусную погоду метаться в открытом море). Пару раз встречали уже небольшие стада дельфинов, весело игравших под самым носом корабля. До чего же забавные существа! Но в общем, беспокойное море – штука не из приятных. После долгой качки голова какая-то тяжелая как после пьянки, мысли страшно туго вылазят и даже язык не ворочается. Говорят, что завтра это кончится.

November 20, 1959

Atlantic ocean

We have been in a storm for the third day in a row. It was even entertaining at first, especially during the day; then it was boring and now it became really annoying. It is really tricky to describe the stormy seas, and I am not much of a writer for that. Plus, it might not even be a big storm, it just been really rocky on the ship lately. I mean horrendously rocky. Even the old-timers going to Antarctica for the second or even for the third time say they don’t remember being rocked that hard. The ship had leaned more than 35 degrees! I could have not imagined how it feels before experiencing it.  Hard to explain. Everything is flying around, moving and making noises. There was a funny episode at the mess yesterday during tea. I was sitting at the table when suddenly I get knocked over together with my chair and flipping around my head I end up in the room next to the mess - music hall. There was only a curtain between the two rooms, so I did not fly through the wall. Now I am sitting in the music hall and finishing my sandwich. Too bad my tea was left in the mess room and I was too shy to go back there after my dramatic exit. It is really rocky. Each meal reminds me of an acrobatic stunt during the storm. At every moment plates, big soup bowls and bread bowls may fly off the table. 

It is also really hard to work, if not to say impossible. Sometimes apathy overtakes and I don't want to do anything at all. So annoyed at this storm. When that happens, I go to the upper bridge - the view of the sea is amazing. Crazy storm petrels are circling around the ship (I am puzzled what makes them fly over the open sea in such a nasty weather). A few times I saw a school of dolphins merely jumping near the bow of the ship. What a funny creatures they are.  But all in all - stormy sea is not pleasant. After rocking for a while your head feels heavy, as if you have a hangover; it is really hard to think and even moving the tongue is hard.  The storm should be over tomorrow.

A note from Masha in 2016:

To tell you the truth I have not experienced stormy seas like THAT yet, but the feelings that he describes is similar to what I felt during my first ever storm back in 2005. Albeit the storm I lived through was short. We will see what Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans have in store for me :) .