Isobel!

After half a week of agonising over the possibility of the whole cyclone thing turning out to be an expensive dud, it finally grew into a category one tropical cyclone. It was almost as if my privately coaxing the clouds actually worked :P. Even with a headstart of over 2 days we quite clearly felt the effects of TC Isobel, although from a fairly safe distance.True to form I went out at dawn to get some evidence :D. The focs'l deck, my primary haunt, was flooded with water forced out from the anti-roll fresh water tanks by the ship's exaggerated rolling, so off I went to the helideck and after a lot of clicks got these proofs of exactly how severe the pitching was :D.

Now negotiating the helideck in wind speeds of upwards of 40 knots is not a very bright idea, as I'd figured out on my very first day on the Trident, up in Sakhalin. But now I'm a little smarter :D, so I kept the ship's superstructure squarely behind me, facing the wind. Indulge me, :) but let me explain why it's a better idea to keep yourself between the wind and structure as against keeping the structure between you and the wind. In the former case, you can quite easily support yourself on the superstructure, taking care to keep yourself close to it. In the latter case, you don't have to worry about the wind at all, unless, you turn a blind corner and then suddenly there's the wind in front of you, and nothing behind :P. Well, not nothing, just the ship's railing you can very well get blown right over! A known adversary is so much easier to negotiate than an unknown one, no?

This is actually the first time since the Sakhalin trip that we've seen weather like this! And even this isn't quite as bad, yet. I mean, there's the threat of getting moved around while sitting on chairs, but it hasn't actually happened yet. Or maybe that's just 'cos I'm about 15 lbs heavier :P.

Currently: rolling and pitching about
Listening to: Citizen Cope - Sideways