Bucket List - Sail Puysegur in a storm warning *tick*

So now i have a bit of time on my hands i can tell you all about the 2 days prior to finishing. all started out peachy, breezing down the west coast. We heard the wind forecasts and knew we were in for a bit of a blow. the Monday night we dropped the main early on and were running downwind just under number 3 head sail, doing about 7 knots, Revs were in sight behind us. The rain started falling and the wind started picking up. It was freezing. before night fall we had rolled away the head sail and were running with the try sail and only. The wind picked up, 40knts gusting 50knts, we didn't have anything for dinner that night. By that time we had shut the cabin top and put the wash boards in, me and dad taking turns outside, not much shelter with the wind and rain pelting us from behind. around 2am we were getting 55kts constantly and gusts that sent our wind meter to 00.0 ( as it only reads up to 60 knots). at this stage we were having to hand steer, about 30mins each taking turns (sleep down below was impossible, squabs were all over the floor and everything was wet, although with the thumping and violent movement of the boat you couldn't sleep anyway). We reached a point were i was trying to nap on the cockpit floor and dad was having to pee in the cockpit drain, harnesses on, soaked through our we weather gear, shivering and not saying much. Wind was gusting over 60knts according to the wind gauge and we were being hurtled down waves (we actually had a rough cross swell and although they weren't that big it made for an uncomfortable trip). Constantly checking the rig (we had both running back stays on and try sail sheeted through spinnaker blocks over the boom) we noticed that the sheet had become jammed in the side of the pulley and the block was either going to snap or the rope was going to frey through. So in 60knts we came up with a plan. i crawled back and with a snatch block (get a couple if you don't have them, handy as anything) and with a tether secured it to the aft sampson post and put another sheet through it. disaster averted. that was about as exciting as it got really. we had the odd wave break over and almost broached a couple of times. we were lucky though to come out without a serious broach or knock down. Sunstone had a knock down and suffered some damage to their self steering gear as well as bending one of their stanchions as a wave tried to take off with their tied down jib on the foredeck.

Having lasted the stormy night round Puysegur it was now up to us to complete the final little bit to get to Stewart Island. We were heading down towards Foveaux with about 30 knots, a full main up and the number 3 head sail. we didn't know where sunstone or revs were as they had taken the corner wide. visibility at this stage was only about 2 miles, heavy fog and a drizzle from the night before, temperature still well chilly. all is going good up until about 20 miles off the finish. the wind dies. it just dies. we are sitting there with revs less than a mile behind us, and sunstone about six in front. we had just come out of a storm and were stuck with the sails flapping. this is just as its about to get dark. rain sets in and we are going nowhere. we changed up to the number 1 in the pouring rain (good call and dads part) and tried our best. after 30 minutes of going backwards in 1knt of current we decided to stuff it. we rolled the genoa up (we had already repaired 1 hole in it from having it flap in light winds) and went hunting for the wind under main alone. apparent wind my friend. i made some soup and heated up a few bread rolls and by the time we had finished that the wind had started to freshen. we worked the sails furiously to keep the wind. Revs were behind us but we could see them working just as hard. night came and wind picked up to a shaky 13 knots. we were managing to point doing about 9 knots towards the finish. hoping to catch sunstone before they crossed the line. we came within spitting distance of the rocks in pitch black steering by GPS alone. finally we made it to half moon bay where the wind died completely. we had to do 3 tacks just to get in the small bay up to big rock and the finish.

and what a great feeling finishing was. they sounded the hooter and we put the sails away, roger and Steve were dropped on board and we picked up a mooring. that all done we left the boat in a shambles and went to have a drink with tom and Vicky (sunstone). We were all buzzing and were too wired to sleep. what a great feeling it was to have finished such a long leg and after all the gales we had to finally be able to stop! we ended the night up with Peter and Donni, our wonderful hosts who received us at 1:30am this morning.

That is the tale. ill fill you in about Stewart island tomorrow.

Wind and waves

the cross swell made for some ugly breaking seas

the wind whipped up the sea spray and the temperature was numbing

the broken spinnaker pulley

our quick repair

Tom after the finish on Sunstone

Me and Vicky having a good laugh and smelling feral