The Morning After...
Pemandia
Peter Fabricius
Mon 23 May 2016 07:26
A bit of a party last night, which is why you will immediately notice that I have not made much progress. My brief entry at midnight noted the wind was up to F7. So it was a party and i met a girl called Gale. She seemed a nice type but turned out to have a bit of a temper on her...
By 0330 it was a full gale. The boat seemed to be handling it but I was very aware of how difficult things would become if anything broke so I completely furled the genoa. This slowed us down and quietened everything. It was like being hove to but we continued on the right heading making about a knot. The noise was terrific with howling wind and enormous seas.
Below there was nothing to do but try and sleep. I had spent the first half of the night fully dressed except for boots and lifejacket on a bunk in the saloon so that I could get up more quickly (which I did several times). After furling the genoa I removed damp clothing and went to my bunk, amazingly sleeping for 4 hours.
Overnight the barometer has dropped 10 millibars....
Now, the sun is trying to shine through. It is still very rough but the wind is down to F6. I started with my usual routine of two cups of tea and a bowl of muesli with the last of my (by now a bit mouldy) blueberries on it, before venturing out. The genoa is set again and we are moving forward at over 4knots again. I won't see the new forecast until mid morning but it had better be good or....
On, on!
Peter
Sent from Yacht Pemandia