The “sail away” is a mini adventure: picnic on the boats around the end of the western headland, out in the shipping lane.
The cross-shore arrived early so we had quite an exciting beat out in a Pacific. Some of the lulls in the lee of the headland were extra exciting as we sat there, motionless, with the cross-shore marching in across the water. We just about managed to avoid unexpected gybes.
The initial run back was pretty exciting too. No gennaker with novice crew plus waves. We headed up for a fantastic twin trapeze reach for a couple of miles in gathering wind – force 6 I guess – until the crew’s trapeze slipped to maximum. He lost his footing, bashed in to me and we were off around the back of the boat for a nice easy capsize. Both windward trapezes were out of action, and we limped briskly home sat in. Guess it was force 7 by the time we landed.
Worth it for that blissful, fabulous reach. And a great effort for a crew over the age of 60!
