Wild Ride

My Hartley 38, Moet, is pounding into massive Pacific Ocean seas. One week of continuous storm conditions has taken me 700 miles south of Fiji, heading for New Zealand. Every few seconds the bow lifts out of the water and hangs in midair for a moment while I tense my muscles, holding on in my bunk. Then gravity wins and 12 tons of sailing yacht falls into the next oncoming wave. I hold my breath. Kla-bam! The boat shudders, and I breathe out. While the mast is still shaking, the boat picks up momentum, just to do it all over again, day and night, me terrified, not sleeping, listening, praying, looking at the rig, the mast, the sails. Listening to the sounds.

I know those sounds and the way the boat moves. They tell me all I need to know to sail the boat from down below, with my eyes closed, even. If I hear a slight slapping of a line on deck or