A stormy crossing

Informed that the wind was blowing force 8 and 9 with the occasional storm 10 we decided to distract ourselves by watching ´Elizabeth´. The cinema is high up at the bow of ´The Pride of Bibao´ and so is a site of maximum movement. Going straight into the wind, and with our speed reduced from 17 to 10 knots the pitching of the boat seemed fairly controlled most of the time. Occasionally a larger wave would lift the bow higher and the boat would rise further before falling into the trough behind the wave, while my virtual stomach continued to rise. The bow then dropped until it slammed back down into the water with a resounding metallic thump which caused the whole boat to shudder and the projector and screen to violently shake. The boat would then repeat this cycle of slam dunks several times before resuming its more controlled progress. It added greatly to the otherwise poor computer generated film effects of the storm lashed Armada being blown about in the Irish Sea.