This is why boats get left in New Zealand

We have been beating to weather (heading into the wind) for two days now. This is the worst sailing direction for the crew. You lean way over, and you bash into the waves. It makes it hard to sleep, eat, and pee. Everyone is tired. We reefed down the mainsail last night as the wind picked up and the intensity picked up all day today until we were at 25kts sustained. At least it has been a steady wind with few gusts. The waves have moved to consistent bus size waves. The rules of waves say that every 1300 waves or so one wave will be 2 times higher than the rest, and every 10,000 waves one will be 3 times bigger than the rest. When the two timer comes it washes over the entire boat and blasts against the dodger windows. When the 3 timer comes it stops us dead in our tracks. All 22,000 lbs of boat stoped like you hit something. This morning when that happened the pantry locker popped opened and about 30 jars, cans, and storage containers fell on the floor. Thankfully none of them broke, even though they made a frightful noise. Another sailing vessel, Sereia (www.svsereia.com), calls sailing like this more like being in a car crash. Many boats sail the mostly downwind course from South America to New Zealand and get left there because the only way home is either continue around the world meaning the Suez canal and pirates, or slog to windward all the way back up the Pacific. Many choose to sell there boats there.

We will be glad for a wind shift that allows us to sail in a more comfortable fashion. We are glad to be moving though.

Rolland for the Trowbridges