Epic Journeys

In Ernest Shackleton’s epic journey to the Antarctica after their boat Endurance was trapped, he and five of his crew set sail on a 22-foot boat from Elephant island to South Georgia 800 miles away. Alfred Lansing in his novel Endurance p 278 writes that the sea is a different kind of enemy.  Unlike the land, where courage and the simple will can often see a man, through, the struggle against the sea is an act of physical combat, and there is no escape.  It is a battle against a tireless enemy in which man never actually wins; the most he can hope for is not to be defeated.  Their struggle to survive became a testament of the human spirit and how much adversity humans can endure.

We did our sailboat crossing from Spain to Greece, one hundred years after Shackleton's epic voyage.  Although we use the word Epic when we refer to our journey it was in the Mediterranean a benign Sea comparing to South Atlantic.  We battled storms after we left the strait of Bonifacio heading south in the Tyrrhenian Sea and later in the Ionian Sea. Because of my fellow mariners' skill and tenacity against the elements we were able to complete our crossing in the summer of 2015. 

The Hurricane Season Starts

The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and ends November 30.  NOAA's National Hurricane Center predicts and tracks these massive storm systems, which occur, on average, 12 times a year in the Atlantic basin.  One of the most destructive hurricanes was Katrina that made landfall in the Gulf States in 2005.  Picture by NASA

Tropical cyclones are called either Typhoons or Hurricanes and are rotating rotating low-pressure weather systems that form over tropical waters. “Cyclone" refers to their winds moving in a circle,whirling round their central clear eye with their winds blowing counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere.  Tropical cyclones with maximum sustained surface winds of less than 39 mph are called tropical depressions. Those with maximum sustained winds of 39 mph or higher are called tropical storms. When a storm's maximum sustained winds reach 74 mph, it is called a Hurricane or Typhoon or Medicanes based on its location. Picture by NASA on BBC

Tropical cyclones out at sea cause large waves and high winds, disrupting international shipping and, at times, causing shipwrecks.

On land, strong winds can damage vehicles, buildings, bridges, and other outside objects, turning loose debris into deadly projectiles. The storm surge,or the increase in sea level due to the cyclone, is typically the worst effect from its land fall and historically resulting in 90% of tropical cyclone deaths. Over the past two centuries, tropical cyclones have been responsible for the deaths of about 2 million people worldwide. 

The word typhoon, is likely derived from the Greek Typhon (Τυφών) a feared monster in Greek mythology that had the head of a man and a lower body of thousands serpents and was associated with storms. 

The word Hurricane, is likely derived from huracán, the Spanish word for storm god, Juracan. This god is likely the Mayan creator god Huracan  who the Mayans believed created dry land out of the turbulent waters. The god was also credited with later destroying the "wooden people", the precursors to the “maize people”, with an immense storm and flood. 

The skipper, the quartermaster, the boatswain and the crew

My brother is the skipper of the legendary Okyrhoe.  His uncanny ability to read the wind shifts makes long sea passages or racing around the buoys a pleasure.

The author of this blog is Okyrhoe's quartermaster the man whose primary responsibility is navigation.  The term likely derives from the German Quartiermeister "master of quarters" or "master of the quarterdeck" the man who provides navigational advice to the helmsman and the captain of the ship.  

The boatswain or bosun is the senior officer in charge of all pertaining to the hull and sails.  Kostas (red cap) is the sailor who admirably makes sure that everything i.e. tackle and sails are trimmed and function to perfection.  Most of the crew came from Greece but there was international participation as John (gray cap) came from Dublin, Ireland and sailed the Lavrio to Kea race.

Those who followed the posts from last year's racing know that Okyrhoe had a very good year.  The numerous awards are testimony of the expertise of her crew.

"now Zeus who masses the storm clouds hit the fleet with the north wind - a howling demonic gale shrouding over in thunderheads the earth and sea at once - and night swept down from the sky and the ships went plunging headlong on, our sails slashed to rags by the hurricane's blast"  (Odysseus describing storms he encountered to Alcinous  in  Homer's Odyssey)