Monday 7th June

Vaquero
Mon 7 Jun 2010 12:21
Position today at 1200UTC is 46 12.0N  27 05.1W
 
The 30W line of longitude sems to be a difficult one to cross.  No progress yesterday as I was hove-to under triple reefed main in a bit of  blow.  At one point I thought the wind was abating, so tried raising the No 4.  After a half hour of leaping to windward like a demented frog, a particularly large breaking wave hit the back of the boat and spun it 90 degrees through the wind.  So with the jib aback and the main sheeted in tight and the self steering trying to go the wrong way, the next wave caught us beam on and laid the boat flat  -  gallons of water down my neck and gallons of water down the hatch, needless to say.  I got it all sorted out and the No 4 back down on deck and retired soggily below to carry on with my book.  And to think I could be sitting in a nice warm office behind a computer screen with a cup of coffee and a nice view....sigh. That's probably why so many people have told me I must be mad to want to do this.  I'm beginning to think they may have a point.