David's Diary: Friday, February 22, 2002
The Mistral Blows in Spain
Tied Down Tight
All week we have been waiting for a mistral wind to blow. A mistral is an incredibly powerful wind that blows when it is squeezed between mountains and the Mediterranean. We saw our last real Mistral in France, but we have been warned that we should expect one here in L'Ampolla in Spain. While commissioning Dragonsinger in Port St. Louis du Rhone, France, we experienced several Mistrals. We are not looking forward to seeing it again. In the Spain the Mistral is called a Tramontana, but no matter what the name the wind can pack quite a wallop.
Big Winds
In L'Ampolla, they were worried enough about the wind to run an extra line to the stern of Dragonsinger, even though this line blocked the rest of the row where we were moored. By the time we got back from the Ebro River Delta yesterday, the mistral was in full effect. During the night, our wind instruments recorded over 50 knots of wind (more than 90 km/hr).
We had forgotten just how powerful fifty knots of wind can be. The gusts were often fifteen knots and as each one hit the boat, we heeled over four or five degrees. Everyday chores from cooking to brushing your teeth to doing school work took on new challenges as the boat whipped back and forth in the wind. While we are prepared for this when we are traveling, it is hard to believe how much Dragonsinger can move at the dock when such a hard wind blows. And how wearing it is on all of us to go through this twenty-four hours a day.