Things that go bump in the night
Rik
Wed 8 Nov 2023 13:59
Yesterday afternoon we once again discussed in putting the third reef and finally decided we would. Reefing is normally done heading directly into the wind, this way there is no pressure on the sail and the lower section that is no longer required slips happily back into the sail bag. However turning towards the wind in these seas is not an option so a lot of pulling, pushing and climbing and packing was required. Although we had practiced this it took longer than expected and it was dark by the time we finished. Yes we were wearing life jackets and clipped on to the boat.
As it turns out reefing the mainsail was well worth the effort as it blew old boots all night. We regularly had a constant 30 knots and gusts up to 36, that makes it a gale force 8. As usual Moose handled it well but some of the crew were feeling it. Dinner was simple as food prep in the sea conditions was not an option, as it turned out, so was eating it for some. I had a fork in one hand and was stopping the bowl of beans sliding along the table with the other. Many other items were sliding and clattering around the galley. We decided to gybe to get a better angle on the waves for a more comfortable night. However the idiot on the helm overdid it and we ended gybing 3 times causing the biggest roll of the week. The idiot on the helm was me! We continued to experience strong winds and a grumpy sea all night, it was all a bit uncomfortable.
When I returned to my cabin I was greeted by this.
Our overflow food storage area had emptied itself on to the floor.
Shaking out the reef in the daylight was a lot easier
The brand new AIS unit we bought in Las Palmas stopped working early evening but after a quick restart was up and running again. I was woken in the night to be informed it had gone down again another restart and it was running but a few VHF calls to nearby yachts revealed they could not see our AIS transmission!! So at midnight I was pulling panels down in the saloon to commission our back up system. All seem OK so far today, with our neighbours confirming they can see us again.
On the bright side we are now 2nd out of 13 boats in the “multihull B” category,