The forecast weather of 15 – 20 knts seemed like it was going to eventuate as the anchorage was quite windy . However when we cleared Queens Bay it settled into a nice breeze of around 10 – 15.

The view out my galley window

Initially the jib was hauled out as the wind was directly behind us , however Captain John decided we would furl it and put out the screecher. We raced along at 9.3 knts overtaking a cat ahead of us enjoying the breeze. It was fantastic sailing except the wind increased to 16 knts so it was time to furl the screecher. That was not fun, the wind was getting stronger, too much for us to furl it, we tried going upwind but the screecher just developed a pocket in it high up as it was furling tight at the bottom and not evenly to the top. We tried for some time to furl it but it was not going to happen.

In the end the only way to get it down was was to lower the halyard and bring the whole sail down to the trampoline. I imediately laid on it to prevent it blowing overboard then after John turned the boat back north he came forward and between the two of us we wrestled it into the forward locker to be sorted out another day in calm conditions.

Sailing on the jib after that episode was much less stressful.

For the remainder of the day we sailed uneventfully to Cape Upstart arriving at 3 oclock, and anchored a reasonable way off the beach as we wern’t sure how close we could get in. The fishing rods went out but we didnt catch anything.