At sea on day 3

Talulah's Web Diary
Paul & Anette Morris
Tue 28 Nov 2006 21:32
"25:05.602N 19:06.970W"
 
Tuesday 28th November 2006
 
Another great day.  Dawn came slowly on Anette's watch, the sun clearing away the fluffy clouds from the east.   I was off watch until 8 a.m. and was woken with a cup of tea and breakfast.   We ate together and then put up the parasail for a day's exhilarating sailing - racing down waves at 10 knots in a sea that was at times very large.   Waves of 4 meters plus chased us through the day, threatening to drench the cockpit, but Talulah rose, cocked her transom and let them slide underneath - but occasionally felt cheeky, racing them up to the next 'water mountain' that faced us.
 
The sky darkened in the afternoon, and the wind got up to 28 knots, with the sea building even more.   At 5 pm. it was time to take the parasail down for the night, and continue under the mainsail  alone until dawn.   Getting the parasail down in 28 knots of wind is "interesting" in the extreme, with a little skin being lost on the way.   Lesson learnt "wear full fingered gloves" for all sail handling in high winds - well we do now!!.
 
Its now a good bright night with the stars shining.   There are a few yachts whose lights we can see, and we've been chatting to them over the VHF on channel 77.   Everyone seems to have had their own little drama or incident of the day, which kind of give comfort, in an odd way.   We are all human it seems.

JPEG image