Rolling Along on a Sea Day
Day 21, Grand Asia 2017
Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017 – At Sea
I had a great night’s sleep, despite or perhaps because of the rolling of the ship as we sailed through the edges of Typhoon Lan. My stateroom preparations paid off, as nothing had fallen to the floor. The drawers on one of my nightstands slid open, but that was total of physical effects I saw. It wasn’t so effortless to get up and get dressed. Walking to the Lido for breakfast was a challenge. I grabbed the handrail and lurched ahead.
It is hard to judge the size of the waves from deck 8, but I believe they were approaching the 15 feet the captain had predicted. I have sailed a 36-foot sailboat in 12-14 foot seas, but they look different from sea level, especially when you are responsible for the sailboat’s operation. The difference here was the winds, which were clocking in at 60 knots or higher. I didn’t check, but I’m pretty sure the outside decks were closed.
We took the waves off our starboard bow, which is about the most comfortable heading in an uncomfortable situation. A following sea, coming from behind, leads to seasickness. I didn’t hear any complaints of that from passengers, and the supply of barf bags never showed up in the elevator lobbies. Of course, any who were sick probably stayed in their cabins.
The ship’s motion was the topic of most conversations at breakfast. It’s our first of two sea days after a week of Japanese ports so we’re enjoying a slow day. The wind and swells died down as the day went on, and by bedtime I could hardly feel any motion.
Everywhere I looked in the public lounges and the large library I saw people reading, crocheting and even napping. The card room was packed for the bridge lesson. Fewer people showed up for morning watercolor class. I sat down for a few minutes and decided there was too much motion for my fledging attempts. Had I remembered it was Sunday, I would have gone to the church service, but the thought occurred too late.
All in all it was a nice lazy day.
I left a comment on your facebook post about using the Navy’s joint typhoon warning center to get storm information for the Pacific. It has interesting data for a storm like Lan, including location coordinates, wind speed, gusts, maximum wave height, distance and time to major military installations. There are projections of how far from the center/eye wind speeds are hurricane (64kt) or tropical storm force (34kt) in each quadrant NE, NW, SE and SW. Right now the tropical storm force winds extend over 400 nautical miles in every quadrant except NE. That makes for a storm over 800 nautical miles across! At the center the winds are reported a sustained 90 kts. and gusts to 110 and waves of 38 feet. Luckily you aren’t at the center and its moving east as you go west. I usually have a hard time converting timing since complication reports are all in Z time or GMT. Stay safe and enjoy your over land trip through China. I do hope you have some good weather, esp for the Li River cruise!
Thanks for the info, Julie! I will bookmark it. Much calmer today! (It’s nearly 10 pm Monday.)