FINNROSE 14:57.19N 48:02.16W
Finnrose
Wed 12 Dec 2012 15:27
Yesterday we did not have the hot, humid, oppressive weather of the past few days. It was pleasantly cool and mostly thin high cloud. For most of the day the wind was easterly force 4, an ideal sailing wind for us. We made good progress with both foresails poled-out. The evening looked set to be the same, and forecast confirmed our thoughts.
However, on Liz's watch, at about midnight we were assailed by a fierce squall. There was a shift in wind direction to the north, gusting up to 40 knots, accompanied by the most torrential rain. The squall was upon us in seconds and seemed to come from nowhere. It was an immediate 'all hands on deck'. After quite a struggle in howling winds we got the sails down. We lost one of the whisker poles in the process (bent in two and broke) and the pole track ripped from the mast. But, Finnrose saw us safely through it again, and we are making progress again today (although the loss of the ability to pole-out our foresails has compromised our downwind ability).
140 miles yesterday (despite last nights contretemps); 756 to go.