Taking on Big Weather

Heavy weather is not always avoidable. Andy Schell has expert advice on how to prepare for and handle the big stuff

- By Andy Schell

On Tuesday 15 June 2021 our Swan 48 Isbjorn was positioned near 51° North, some 350 miles south-west of Fastnet Rock. She was in deep North Atlantic waters, charging north on the fringes of a strong depression in sustained gale force south-westerlies and heavy seas.

“Isbjorn is handling the conditions like a champion!” her skipper wrote to me from the sat comms. During the strongest conditions that the boat had ever experienced under the 59° North flag, I was ashore at my farmhouse in Sweden, nervously watching the progression of the GRIB forecasts overlaid on Isbjorn’s track.

”The seas are impressive and we are taking on some green water when the breaking crests catch up with us. Making great speed under triple-reefed mainsail and just a scrap of headsail.”

Isbjorn’s skipper, Norwegian August Sandberg – who is every bit the long-haired, bearded Viking – was in command, bound from Horta towards Oban, Scotland, and ultimately Bergen, Norway. “Winds are touching 45 knots true in the largest gusts, but we are under full control. Steering is going to be more scary and challenging for the watch at night, but we are up for it,” he added.

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I knew the storm was coming. Sandberg and his five-person crew knew the storm was coming. Weather Routing Inc (WRI), the professional weather routing service we use, knew it was coming. “Routing is expected to be exceptionally difficult due to the active pattern in place with several fronts and gales,” WRI had briefed us. “There are several features we will have to monitor in the coming days to minimise lengthy periods of extreme weather.”