Well the last night out was a little exciting. The breeze started to fill in early evening from the NNE and by midnight we had 25kts with rain. It was directly behind us so we had to put in a few gybes to stay reasonably close to the coast. We had 2 reefs and a scrap of headsail and were averaging 8kts. Should have put a 3rd reef in really as it continued to grow with gusts especially as we went further out. The waves weren't too bad, sloppy for sure but could have been a lot worse. About 2am the shackle on the traveller connecting it to the mainsail broke, shit. Ended up being ok as it broke down the bottom and made a hook so the mainsail didn't go wild and I was able to lash it together but it could have been catastroff! Chinese shackle is all I can say:) they will all be replaced soon.
Mantra was also around hanging for daybreak to enter the channel and by 7am we were inside and very relieved to be here! Timing is everything and we wouldn't wanted to be out there much longer at all as by early evening it filled in from the south with a vengeance. We were out for dinner with a couple of other boats eating lamb shanks and chicken cordon bleu with a smile on our faces when it did hit thinking how lucky we were to have good weather forecasting!
Happy days, loving Richards Bay.
We arrived in Tuzi Gazi marina to clear in but today we are going over to the Zulu Land yacht club.
Back in the western world and it feels alright!
No comments:
Post a Comment