No. 20 - Getting the Hang of It
The gods have been appeased. After three days of getting battered by
westerly winds generated by back-to-back lows circling the pole to the
south of us, the weather suddenly changed. Within 6 hours the wind
went from 50 knots to dead calm. The wind chop rapidly laid down and
all that was left was a slow, greasy swell. We started two hours
before dawn and set the trawl four times before watching the sun slip
obliquely over the northwest horizon and bath the islands in a
pink-red glow. For the next hour we watched the high ice fields of
Elephant Island glow in a series of pastel colors -- horizon to
horizon. As if we weren't spellbound enough, a sooty-mantled
albatross made several passes at eye level within ten feet of where we
were standing on deck. My capitulation had been rewarded.
Today we got in another four trawls. We're getting the hang of
working the gear together and my job has been reduced to practically
nothing. To celebrate, we cut some sashimi from Antarctic cod and ice
fish -- the cod was rose-colored with a touch of fat and very
flavorful, but the ice fish was milky white and for me it was too
strange for a fish's lateral muscle. The cooks also filleted and
baked a bunch of gibberifrons, a tasty nugget that's been common in
our catches. Another good day.
But our luck appears to be changing yet again. Another low is passing
to the north of us wrapping winds clockwise around itself and hitting
us from the east. And tonight's weather fax shows little small-scale
structure coming our way but an endless slope between an elevated high
over the south Pacific and a deep low toward the pole. Could be some
serious westerly weather. Yet again, maybe the Chilean forecasters,
who rely on imagination as much as fact, are wrong.
-Roger