Day 16 – A good soaking

During the early morning hours, the wind picked up and we took down the goose-wing. We noted that the track on the mast, that supported the sliders was bent and we could not knock it back into shape, so we would have to try to refit it in Tristan, which was now only 160nm away.

The wind continued to pick up strength and by 1300 it was 35 knots in 5m swells. Helming was a challenge in the mass of moving water. It was also raining again. It seemed that we had made such good speed that we had outrun our favorable weather. The stormy conditions tested our sailing to the full, but the only casualty were broken sliders connecting the mainsail to the mast, leading us to bag the main sail, and a lost buoyancy aid. At one stage the inner cockpit took on the appearance of a chilly Jacuzzi, which fortunately did not flood the cabin and provided Freddie, Ash, Jane and Sean which a full body wash and a great video to prove it. We continued sailing on a reefed genoa and the rest of the day was cold, wet but uneventful.