Last night at about 2:00 am we were hit by a gale. We had been expecting it from forecasts around 22:00 and were well reefed down in anticipation, but the wind stayed around 10 kts until 02:00 am when it then very quickly went to the mid-40s with gusts into the low 50 kts. It was like someone flicked a switch! So we jumped up and furled away all of the genoa and then further reefed the main almost all the way in, and we were still doing 9kts of speed over ground!
The seas have correspondingly built to about 3 meters on average but occasionally much bigger ones. We are sailing East with the wind and waves coming from the West. Sailing downwind in this sea state results in Nakee having a rough ride and rolling quite a bit. I’m very glad I prepared by starting sea sickness tablets yesterday before we left Virginia, but still don’t have much of an appetite.
This morning the sun is out and thankfully the winds are still from the West as forecast and not Northerlies as we are about to sail across the ~70 mile wide Gulf Stream which flows North. When winds from the North meet the Gulf Stream flowing North it produces gigantic square waves, best avoided if at all possible, as that results in the yacht slamming, which is probably how I broke my standing rigging last May when sailing up to Annapolis.
It is really hard to give people on shore a feeling of what it is like out here with pictures and videos, but here goes.
