13 Beaufort

The Beaufort Wind Scale is to wind and waves what the Richter Scale is to earthquakes: higher numbers refer to increasing levels of severity. Lower numbers in the scale are just descriptive really, while higher numbers are downright alarming. A rear admiral in the British navy, called Sir Francis Beaufort, created this wind scale in 1805 to describe the wind's observed effect on water conditions. It is not an empirical measurement; it's how you would experience wind and water in increasingly strong conditions. The range goes from Force 0 to Force 12. This is what the scale looks like as described by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Beaufort scale number	Descriptive term	Units in km/h	Units in knots	Description on Land	Description at Sea
0	Calm	0	0	Smoke rises vertically	Sea like a mirror.
1-3	Light winds	19 km/h or less	10 knots or less	Wind felt on face; leaves rustle; ordinary vanes moved by wind.	Small wavelets, ripples formed but do not break: A glassy appearance maintained.
4	Moderate winds	20 - 29 km/h	11-16 knots	Raises dust and loose paper; small branches are moved.	Small waves - becoming longer; fairly frequent white horses.
5	Fresh winds	30 - 39 km/h	17-21 knots	Small trees in leaf begin to sway; crested wavelets form on inland waters	Moderate waves, taking a more pronounced long form; many white horses are formed - a chance of some spray
6	Strong winds	40 - 50 km/h	22-27 knots	Large branches in motion; whistling heard in telephone wires; umbrellas used with difficulty.	Large waves begin to form; the white foam crests are more extensive with probably some spray
7	Near gale	51 - 62 km/h	28-33 knots	Whole trees in motion; inconvenience felt when walking against wind.	Sea heaps up and white foam from breaking waves begins to be blown in streaks along direction of wind.
8	Gale	63 - 75 km/h	34-40 knots	Twigs break off trees; progress generally impeded.	Moderately high waves of greater length; edges of crests begin to break into spindrift; foam is blown in well-marked streaks along the direction of the wind.
9	Strong gale	76 - 87 km/h	41-47 knots	Slight structural damage occurs -roofing dislodged; larger branches break off.	High waves; dense streaks of foam; crests of waves begin to topple, tumble and roll over; spray may affect visibility.
10	Storm	88 - 102 km/h	48-55 knots	Seldom experienced inland; trees uprooted; considerable structural damage.	Very high waves with long overhanging crests; the resulting foam in great patches is blown in dense white streaks; the surface of the sea takes on a white appearance; the tumbling of the sea becomes heavy with visibility affected.
11	Violent storm	103 -117 km/h	56-63 knots	Very rarely experienced - widespread damage	Exceptionally high waves; small and medium sized ships occasionally lost from view behind waves; the sea is completely covered with long white patches of foam; the edges of wave crests are blown into froth.
12+	Hurricane	118 km/h or more	64 knots or more	Very rarely experienced - widespread damage	The air is filled with foam and spray. Sea completely white with driving spray; visibility very seriously affected

The worst conditions we've been caught in in Force 8-9. I say 'caught' because it was not anticipated and would best be described as the manifestation of the warning given by the Bureau of Meteorology that "... Wind gusts can be 40 percent stronger than the averages given here, and maximum waves may be up to twice the height. .... ". We certainly never intended to be 'out there' in filthy weather like that but it happens, right?

So imagine if you will, what a phrase like '13 Beaufort' will conjure up! For us it turns out to be a boat name with which we've become familiar.

One of the Bloke's morning habits, if we are actually at rest and not sailing, is to fire up an AIS app called Marine Traffic. There are a number of similar apps that display on a map, the positions of ships and other vessels based on their emitted Automatic Identification Signal. Almost all commercial vessels emit a signal which is used by other shipping to determine proximity at sea and importantly, the chances of a collision. Not all vessels that have AIS will be emitting all the time. Fishing vessels for example, rarely have their system on! We've seen inexplicable light arrays on the night horizon that we've eventually determined to be a fishing trawler and they haven't had their AIS switched on. There is no substitute for keeping a watch out! With the exception of the fishing boats, what the apps enable, is the opportunity to be a bit of a 'fly on the wall' and observe shipping movements and where the main shipping channels are. We also like to see if there are other sailors moving around. Very snoopy!

A couple of weeks ago we were sitting out a few cold fronts passing from west to east, we were astonished to see a vessel having just crossed The Great Australian Bight and turning up Thorny Passage past Cape Catastrophe at the bottom of the Eyre Peninsula. This yacht had just crossed The Bight and must have been clobbered by some VERY severe weather. We alerted the crew of Urchin who are still in Port Lincoln to our interesting observation. There had to be a story! As it turned out, the good Doctors Jonathan and Wendy, who happen to live overlooking the Port Lincoln Marina learned the story of solo world mariner, Gus (Rijs Klumper) and his yacht '13Beaufort' over a couple of meals and loads of washing. Jonathan is the Commodore of the Port Lincoln Yacht Club and as ever, enthusiastically welcomes and extends hospitality to visiting yatchies. He and wife Wendy even took us in!

Gus's Bight crossing was certainly a wild one but nothing by comparison with his wild time at the Kerguelen Islands (also aptly known as the Desolation Islands) deep in the southern Indian Ocean (49-21'S, 70-13'E). Warned to secure himself to a ships mooring due to impending storms, his hull was breached when the mooring buoy came loose on it's chain and hammered through his bow. To save his boat he had to release himself from the mooring and was subsequently beached. It took over a month to effect repairs sufficient to enable him to make for Fremantle. En route he suffered 2 knock downs. The net result of breakages and flooding of all electronics was an epic journey of hand steering to limp into Fremantle to make repairs. What a horrendous way to fill the first year of a 3 year world circumnavigation!

We think we'll add Force 13 to the Beaufort Scale and the above will be what it looks like!

The good Doctors from Port Lincoln called us to expect Gus on 13Beaufort in Port Fairy. We scrutinised Marine Traffic with great intent to anticipate Gus' arrival. With all his experience, the trip from Kingscote, Kangaroo Island to Port Fairy was a doddle for Gus but as instructed, we were on the wharf to accept his leads when he arrived.

We were particularly excited to meet another touring yatchie (albeit we are not of his calibre) and Gus's story is by any measure, extraordinary. His survival story is even sweeter when you factor that his slow progress to Fremantle led him to contact his son in The Netherlands to inform him that he would be unable to make a planned rendezvous in Perth/Fremantle. His son cancelled his ticket on Malaysian Airlines MH17; the same flight from Amsterdam that was shot out of the sky over The Ukraine! Chilling!

Looking at the weather forecasts

We hope that Gus has not already exhausted a lifetime of good luck and has a brilliant remainder to his epic journey. Wishing you fair winds our friend, fair winds!