Position 49:44.44N 1:56.02W

We reached Cap de la Hague at 2330.  The wind was quite strong so before it got dark I hard rigged up the inner forestay and hanked on the heavy weather jib.  I’m glad I did.  We furled the genoa and took the pole down, and started to harden up, and as always happens in these situations, we’d underestimated the wind strength as you harden up.  Coupled with a turning tide, it was pretty rough and we had 28-30 kts apparent.  I put one reef in the main and we had the heavy weather jib for it’s first outing, and no mizzen, and Nutmeg was going like a train!  She didn’t seem to mind it, although we did fall off a few waves with a crash but there was little slamming.  Emilia was keen to stand a watch so she allowed me to catnap for a bit before she retired to her bunk. I’ve got an extra-loud kitchen timer and I set it for 20-minute intervals.  I’ve also got the AIS guard alarm on.  I ended up sleeping on the floor of the saloon as I was nicely wedged in.  I kept all my kit on. 

The amount of kit we’re wearing is ridiculous.  Emilia actually has all her ski kit – salopettes and jacket – on, and I have three base layers, a snug jacket and my offshore jacket on!  Add a lifejacket, and it makes going to the loo a significant undertaking!  But it is cold at night – I am having to focus on keeping my hands warm.

During this rough night, I noticed the auto bilge pump light was on almost constantly.  I traced this down to the water back-siphoning – we are well-heeled with the port deck regularly underwater.  Once I’d worked this out I just shut the seacock off and the water didn’t rise.  Another job to add to the list – siphon break and a raised loop in the hose.

It's felt like we’ve been underwater with the amount of spray and solid stuff coming over the boat.  Down below is dry although the saloon hatch is spraying water when it’s really heavy over the deck.