I am on watch in the cockpit on board the sailing vessel "Sister Moon". I am being flung around as though I am a bouncing ball. I try to make sense of my surroundings as I awkwardly search the horizon for any other unfortunate vessels being thrown from towering swell to towering swell. I feel totally alone out here in this raging pool of pitch-black darkness. Images of the ocean swallowing me and my family in a single gulp flash through my mind every second.
The wind is beating against my icy skin and every bone in my body aches from the relentless cold. I want to be brave and I don't want to allow fear to override my entire body but my emotions have no remorse and I can no longer control them. I am absolutely exhausted yet wide awake at the same time. Fatigue washes over me with each swell that smashes into "Sister Moon's" hull and sprays salty spears onto my face.
Lenny Kravitz for U2 360 Tour, Anaheim, 17 June 20...
Full Moon view from earth In Belgium (Hamois). Fra...
Hurricane Lenny on November 17, 1999 at 1545 UTC, ...I stumble my way down the companion way into "Sister Moon's" warm and cosy belly, where every creak or bang is magnified tenfold. I slam into the chart table as "Sister Moon" is knocked down by yet another monstrous swell. I limp towards the unsteady stove, rocking back and forth on its gimbals and I hold onto the counter so tight that my knuckles turn a translucent white. I shakily light the stove and put the kettle on to boil.
Heaving my way up the companion way to examine the radar I notice an unfamiliar green symbol that has been highlighted onto one of the ancient coffee-stained charts upon the chart table. In my state of confusion I look closer and recognise the symbol, but I can't yet place it. I whisper to my...