PredictWind’s forecasts for the last 400 miles or so to Gibraltar were accurate so far. They are for high seas and strong Northerly winds with most models showing roll warn.
Before we turned in last night, we put two reefs in the Genoa and two reefs in the main. We are using the cutter rig with the staysail flying and this got us through a very bumpy night with SOG in the 6-8 it range, but early in the morning the wind was gusting to 30 and waves kept building so we were overpowered. We used a preventer to ease the main way out and severely reefed in the Genoa after sliding the Genoa sheet car as far forward as possible to avoid the Genoa sheet rubbing on the cap shroud and to sto the leech of the sail flogging.
It’s been overcast most of the day, but just this afternoon the sky has cleared even though the condition still remain rather lumpy. Every so often rogue waves crash over the boat and it’s like driving a submarine from the inside helm.
We have 360 or so miles to go to the start of the traffic separation scheme in the Straight of Gibraltar!
