One week ago we have set sail out of Sausalito. It was an intense week and the sail ahead of us, wasn’t any easier. Short swell threw the boat back and force without any break. Mats was tucked into his car seat on board all day and he was a trooper. He seems to understand quite well, when we explain to him, that this is the safest spot for him in these conditions. Noah our dog must have lost quite a bit of weight, working hard to keep his balance and not feeling like eating, when we are under sail. It’s good that we had so many land days, where he was able to load up on energy again. Soon we will take a longer break in San Diego.
- But now back to the sail. When things seemed to be somewhat non changing wind wise, first Kruiser and than also the Captain went for a little snooze. They had offered to split the night shift and I wanted to give them a break during the day in return. The Captain wasn’t able to take much of a break, as all of a sudden a big wave threw the boat around and offset the Autopilot, a loud Alarm made him jump out of bed and behind the wheel, where I had already started steering the boat back on track. We tried two more times if it was possible to have the Autopilot do it’s thing, but the swell was just too big. We now had to hand steer, which was a bit of a fight against the waves. The wind started picking up too and Captain and Kruiser put a reef into the main sail, while the boat was heavily moving with the waves and myself behind the steering wheel, trying to stay on course, afraid that the boom could swing over in one of those big swells, if I would for a split second get of course. Luckily all went well and the 2 million dollar valuable men are still on board! 😉
- Around 8pm I went into the cabin to have a little rest and when I just tried to crawl into the sleeping bag, the second I was not holding on and had no leg to support, a big wave threw me right out of bed and I slammed my head against the side of an open door. Luckily it did not knock me out, as the guys in the cockpit had no idea it had happened, all the noise from the waves and wind were too loud. I got away with a bruise and a headache.
- At about 3:30am we pulled into Long Beach, the weather forecast for the next day as announced wind into 30 mph and even shorter and bigger swells. We wanted to wait that one out.
- Thank you for reading, we love to read your comments, or see when you like it!
Here a little clip from the craziness.
P.S. Thanks to our German friends for the Knödel, seen in pic!
To Sail or Not To Be 