Brutal night
Syjoy
Thu 6 Jun 2019 11:13
Currently wedged in on the cabin floor with a bowl of granola in one hand and iPad in the other.... it’s a bit lively!
Backing up a bit, I think I last wrote on Tuesday (I think, it’s all blurring into one and quite tired). We had a nice two sail setup for high teens to low twenties though both Dave and I each found 3 or 4 rain clouds that night bringing sudden 30+ knot squalls which made life interesting... best defence seems to be a big dump of the main and drive the bow down and run away... fast but not necessarily in the right direction!
Unfortunately all this fun and games has turned the boat into something like the humidity of a steam room, but sadly without the temperature. Not that it’s been especially cold. Everything seems to be at best damp, if not wet through. Yesterday daytime was mostly overcast, but lighter breeze and warm so had a couple of hours of laundry airing to good effect.
Yesterday evening we had a long gradual header before a stint on port (feels like we’ve been on starboard forever!) wiggling through to the other side and into NW to N breeze. And boy was there breeze... more than we anticipated from the forecast fore sure! We took the prudent option and chickened out at 3am in 40kts and dropped the main entirely. I’m sure we will have lost miles on those more familiar with their boats and pushing hard, but we are literally several hundred miles from anywhere and it was getting a little sketchy...
After a few hours under jib only in which we both got a bit of rest the sun had come up, the wind moderated (a little) and of course seeing the waves makes a huge difference. Had a quick VHF call from Zephyrin so presumably he could see us on AIS, pushing it hard no doubt, but the only things we’ve seen in the last couple of days is a ship and a fishing boat... and only on the screen miles away.
Anyway, we got the main back up a few hours ago and now sending it fast in the right direction. On starboard of course... going to have a permanent twist before too long! good dose of warm sunshine and plenty of waves to surf down makes everything seem a million times better than a few darker moments from the middle of the night, and 28-32kts seems perfectly manageable now, the boat really is a dream to drive :)
Speaking of which, it’s got to be my turn again soon... another day or so of this and then looking light for final stretch into Ponta Delgada, hopefully Saturday evening.
Cheers,
I.
PS, after all our drying efforts the steam room has returned... :(