Day 6

(started writing this on day 7, finishing on 8, because day 6 itself was too intense to open the computer)

Day 6 was the day of the gale.

Hmm, I see I didn't mention the coming gale on the earlier reports. But this is just a write up for others entertainment. The real record of the trip is the log book and I see notes of the weather forecast showing the gale from friday (day 5).

Can you describe what it is like to be in a storm at sea? It is clear to me that the answer is "no", because I did a lot of book learning about this already - reading both heavy weather sailing manuals and sailing trip narratives. It comes down to what does a giant wave feel like? I had been out sailing in the relatively sheltered hauraki gulf in strong winds, so I knew my boat could handle the wind, but I had not experienced what the waves would be like. I knew from reading that past a certain wind strength (depends on the boat's handling characteristics and setup) it wouldn't be safe to continue sailing (or you are just too exhausted) so you then employ one of many storm tactics to bring the boat under control, possibly to continue sailing, or to create a comfortable motion so that you can leave the boat to it's devices and get some rest. Which tactics works best with what conditions is something that depends on the boat. So you can't really know what to do - you just had to prepare a variety of moves and experiment.

The simplest is to reduce sails - change to very small, very strong sails, and keep on sailing. This has the advantage of not loosing ground, but is surely the most exhausting method. I already had a fairly small heavy jib and also a very small jib (that I had not used ever), and had recently had a 3rd reef point put in the mainsail. The next step is to "heave to" in this you setup the sails in some way as to hold the boat at a steady angle into the wind. I'd discovered recently that using just the main at the 3rd reef would point into the wind but not tack - so this qualified as heaving to. Finally I had a sea anchor. This you trail out from either the bow or the stern and it holds the boat steady and pulls it back if a breaking wave hits you. I had had the sea anchor for a long time, but never used it, and also just before the trip attached extra strong cleats either side of the stern for attaching it.

The morning before the gale was actually very pleasant sailing. Down wind then a beam reach, very smooth, good conditions for making the various preparations. I switched to the heavy jib, and set up the tiny jib (which didn't have hanks) as a flying stay sail, fixing it on the spinnaker up and down hauls (with the tack of the sail attached to the anchor bollard, and the head attached to both the up and downhaul, so that I could easily pull it back down without going on deck)

In the after noon, the wind strength grew steadily. I put in two, then three reefs. The waves grew very large, they were far taller than any I had encountered before, but because we were in the deep ocean (more than 1 kilometer deep) and because the waves had traveled over a great expanse of water, they were large but not steep. A wave came and we just rose with it. Even going forward on deck wasn't scary. In strong weather in the hauraki gulf it's worse, because the waves are short and steep and so holding on is much harder.

It continued like that a while, I was actually surprised how scary it wasn't. Then the wind increased a bit more, the boat shuddering, and the windows regularly in the water I decided it was probably time to heave to. I clipped on (oh yeah, I am using wearing a safety harness and a line attaching me to the boat at all times when I'm on deck, and even in the cockpit if the weather is strong). Then this _extra large wave approaches. As I gaze, mesmerized at it's majestic awesomeness, the top rises so high that it can't support itself and crumbles into a mess of foam, it's right in front of me so I can see it perfectly, but it doesn't hit me. Oh yeah, this is the next phase of gale strength, I read about this.

I drop the jib, just the 3-reefed main. Everything feels fine, surprisingly smooth and comfortable inside. More comfortable that it would be near land because the waves are so long.

After a little while, it feels like the wind has decreased a little. I decide to try raising the small jib. I pull it up, and it starts flogging like crazy! It whips the sheets through, and tangles them around each other (thankfully, I had set up a second set of sheets for this sail, the regular ones where still attached to the heavy jib) I could see that I should have had knots in the ends of the sheets, to stop them pulling through, but I didn't because it isn't an issue in moderate conditions. It was a disaster! so I went back to heaving to with just the 3-reef main. Log entry reads "nap time"