Scary PYRAMID Waves

June 11, 2013.  1 pm
N 34.41 E 139.06
Weather: Raine
Winds: Northeast 22
Waves: 1m
12 miles west of Izuoshima

　It was really frightening! About 2 hours ago, at around Mikomotoshima in the Oshima Islands, the winds that were already up to 25 knots went up to 30 knots. The wave heights reached 2.5 - 3 meters. It's been pretty rough out here. Suddenly, I felt the Aeolus being lifted up then I felt it go sideways. At that moment, I heard the roaring sound of the engine. In the direction we headed to avoid a vessel were chopping pyramid waves. Hiki-san and Ando-san who were steering knew they were there but had to head in that direction to avoid a vessel. We just caught the edge of them but the thought of being caught in the middle of them sent chills down my spine. I experienced that during a open sea race in San Diego before and it was almost as scary. I'll tell you about my scariest experience some other time. So, why do we take such huge risks to do something like this? Well, my watch is going to start in a bit so I will write about that some other time too.

Originally posted by Hiro in Japanese on 6/11/2013
Translated by SWIS Project