ARC DAY 26: 16 December 2021

ARC DAY 26: 16 December 2021
449 Nm to the comfort zone.
Yikes! Today dawned afyer a very rough night exactly as advertised with squalls everywhere and big seas.
We had winds gusting ip ro 40knots a couple of times before lunch and have had to reef the twins repeatedly.
By 3pm we had just about given up unfurling them when the wind dropped so our average speed is probably a bit lower today.
The sea state improved a little in the afternoon but winds continued to jump about all over the place.
I (Chris) tried to sleep in the afternoon but was too hyped and anxious about the wind to manage it.
Kerrie managed to make a shepherds pie during a brief lull on the waves. She has done amazing cooking on the trip in really adberse conditions.
We hope to get a reasonable night but expect to be having to roll sails in and out again and change heading to go downwind if it gets very high.

later during nightwatch....
The wind strength has risen to about 24 knots with gusts as high as 29 so far.
Our heavily reefed twins seen to be coping well as is the tiller pilot.
The batteries are down to 70% so we may have to run the engine to recharge
if they drop too far.
It's hard to see but the waves must be pretty high just from the lift we get every time one goes under the hull. Forecast is for about 3m .
Still it will be a good night for rolling in the miles at this pace.
Fingers crossed for arriving late on the 19th.


Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

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