Aftermath

One of the nastiest nights weather I've experienced offshore - consistently over 45knots with the gusts on the high side of 60...

Things got more confused as the night wore on and the wind shifted, with the waves and huge swell getting out of sync by almost 90 degrees. Now and again a huge wave would rear up in the spotlight beam on the bow and we'd take a big roll - time to hang on to your laptop and chair, but not that unusual.

However around 7am (still pitch black up here) the boat started another big roll. Things started to clatter in the shelves and we all started to hang on to our desks. Then the chairs were on two legs and and crashing to the floor as the desks emptied of computers/phones/paperwork... We were all left crouching on the floor, hanging on as the chaos poured past. The ship then took a big roll the other way and the chairs shot through a gap between the consoles and out into the main part of the bridge before the big finale, as the biggest roll saw the ship a full 19.7 degrees to starboard.

The chairs returned, en masse, at speed. Luckily I could jump on the windowsill that runs around the outside of the bridge to escape the marauding furniture. Also managing to scoop my laptop/camera bag as it slip past. It looked like there might be one more charge from the chairs but things quietend down and after a bit of hysterical laughter it time to clear up...

Instuments on the bridge recorded the 19.7 degree roll at the same time as a heave (the vertical movement of the ship) of 15 metres and it's likely that the wave(s) were slightly bigger than that again.

It got us again about 30 minutes after clearing up, the printer is looking a bit worse for wear after two solo base jumps from the desk.