We enter the storm 39:43.9N 14:29.2W
Ellatrout3
Tue 24 May 2016 19:23
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We are now in the bottom edge of the,
now, less intense storm and it is very difficult to type. Overnight
we had a powerful southerly so with two reefs in the mainsail we reached due
west,straight to the Azores. The changing conditions had me up until
about 1am when I thought I would catch an hours sleep. First hour OK,
second hour woke to find ET happily racing north. It took me a good 20 minutes
with 2 failed tacks to get her on a beat to windward in the rough conditions
even with the light of the big moon to help me. She was totally
over pressed when I got onto the beat so we are now down to three reefs inthe
mainsail, no more left, and half the genoa rolled up That was about 4.30,
since then it has been hard, rough and uncomfortable. ET is coping
handsomely which is just a well because the forecast says we will be doing this
until Thursday.
I wrote the first paragraph this morning and now
I'm ready for some sleep I realise how tiring its been. The sea seems to have
two sets of waves running in different directions making the bboats actin quite
violent. I've been in these wind strengths before, 20 to 25 knots, across
the deck, and it usually sets up large rollers in one direction with
some white tops which is not too bad. Although we have had beautiful blue
skies with white cloud and warm sun I am not really looking forward to tomorrow.
I don't envy any of the guys who may have got caught up in the serious end of
this storm because it hasn't passesd through like most low pressure systems
giving you grief for 8 to 12 hours it's been stuck here for nearly a week
now!
Sorry it is only one topic today we'll see what
tomorrow brings.
Poppa/Dad/Roger
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