A Week Long Beat Down At Sea, All In The Name Of Science!
September 27th 2010
We just arrived in Barcelona after 7 very rough days at sea! Lots and lots of rolling around, very little sleep, high seas and strong winds! We have seen worse weather in the past, but normally it only last a day or two…this lasted 7 days straight. The constant beating by wind and seas also took its toll on the boat, satellite and radar went down, engine and generator problems as well as random things flying across the boat hitting people as they slept! Captain Charlie and the crew did a great job monitoring the weather (especially with no satellite for internet or communications). Our course was plotted to avoid big weather systems moving through the Mediterranean.
It was a rough sail and we are all happy to be back on land here in Spain. Arriving back in Spain brings to an end the summer sampling season of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. We have sailed over 7,200 miles since May and collected 60 samples from 6 countries. The samples are some of the most interesting we have collected and come from a wide range of unique environments. I have one more sample to pick up in France tomorrow (the weather was too rough to take Sorcerer II up there, so I am going by car and collecting the sample on our collaborator’s boat). The crew is going to take some vacation and start preparing for the Atlantic crossing that will begin early November.
