A Rough Sail Home

Monday I tried combining daysailing with fishing.  The day started out with a pleasant 10 mph southerly wind.  After a couple hours of tacking I eventually arrived at my favorite fishing spot.  Just as I arrived the wind died, which was perfect timing.  I fished for an hour or so but didnt catch anything.  Then, rather suddenly, the wind came back, this time from the North.  Looks like Ill have to tack all the way home too!

So I put away my fishing gear and started sailing back.  I couldnt help but notice that the wind was increasing rather quickly.  Up ahead I could see whitecaps forming.  I hove to, put on my rain gear and tied in a double reef in the main.  I knew Id need it, and boy was I right.  I had to sail through the worst conditions Ive experienced yet for an hour and a half.  As you can see in the wind chart from SailFlow.com, the winds went from near zero to 25 mph gusting to 30 mph in two hours.  Heres some video:

Conditions got even worse so I had to put the camera away, drop the main, and sail under jib and mizzen.  The boat handled the conditions just fine.  Me, I was a little rattled.  But let me tell you, I am so glad I ran my halyards back to the cockpit.  It was so nice to be able to drop the main while remaining safely seated in the cockpit.  I would not have wanted to walk up forward to deal with the main under these rough conditions.
And once again, I continue to be more and more impressed with Navigators capabilities.

Reef early, my friends.

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