Yesterday evening was uncomfortable – motoring in sloppy sea conditions with insufficient wind to fill the main and quiet the boat. Sleep was once again at a premium.
Shortly after midnight last night I was able to turn the engine off again – and I set up to be close hauled in a gentle wind, setting full main and genoa on the starboard side (for a port tack…) conscious of the fact that I was working with noisy ropes and winches, right above the aft cabin where Laurie was trying to sleep.
After just 30 minutes or so, the wind came up further and we had too much sail up. I reefed the main. A little later, with higher winds, I had to reef the genoa – not easy as there is no spare winch for the furling line – so I had to let the sail flog a little so that I could manually pull the line sufficiently for it to reach the port side winch. Needless to say, much noise in the whole process!
The wind was now taking us pretty much due east – we want to go north east – and while we could point the boat closer (not at) Dingle, by being harder on the wind, this would cause us to heel even more – not conducive to sleeping… I cracked off a little so that it was a less rolly, less heeled motion – which involved even more noisy sail adjustments.
Laurie got up for her 3 am watch not a happy camper – I’d pretty much kept her awake her entire sleep time. Beating a rapid retreat, I quickly went to bed! Not good sleeping at all. We were in a washing machine.
When I ‘woke’ in the morning, Laurie was immediately on my case to change out the genoa for the smaller jib which would allow us to point higher – she really likes to aim for the target!
So, before coffee I was up in the cockpit in now cold windy conditions, switching sails (and praying that the jib furler was going to allow us to furl the sail when needs be). Laurie was right – the motion was slightly better and our pointing significantly improved.
As the day wore on, with each of us trying to catch short naps, the wind and seas began to ease a little and finally this afternoon we opted to switch back to the Genoa to regain some speed. But alas, the jib would not furl. Once again we were on the foredeck trying to untangle the mess, we dropped and raised the sail in an attempt to free everything but no go. Fortunately, we have a spare furling line, so we dropped the sail again and switched lines and were finally able to furl the jib. Touch wood, if/when we need the jib again it’ll behave properly…
We made 177 sleep deprived miles in the last 24 hours, albeit much of it not in the right direction! The weather has turned decidedly north European: cold, wet and grey! Feels like home!
As I write this, the boat is pointing close to Dingle, Laurie is sleeping in the now comfortable motion, so hopefully, tomorrow morning, all will be well aboard Toodle-oo! once again!