Richard hangs on to the helm in the short sea and building wind....he is too busy to put on his shirt!
It is 17 NM to Finike from this anchorage and force 4 to 5 Beaufort is predicted - a fairly fresh westerly wind. We see the whitecaps as we clear the islands and know that we are in for a good sail. We are soon sailing briskly with a following wind and mounting seas.
It is a very fast run under full main and reefed genoa. We break the Matelot record when we hit 11 knots 3 times, frequently doing plus 10s in between but it is still hard to catch DB who has left before us, as she is surfing the short seas more comfortably than Matelot. Richard is kept very busy on the helm as Matelot gets caught under the stern by the following sea and tries to round up from time to time. We complete this short passage in 2 hours flat and it has been quite a ride.
Unfortunately we have a small hole in our new main sail where a broken plastic fitting on the spreader has punctured it. We see it sticking through the sail when we are almost at Finike and have no option but to carry on. The Dimension Polyant fabric has performed well by not tearing further and we are left with two small puncture holes. Our first job in Finike apart from provisioning is to get the main sail off and send it to the sailmakers for repair. Richard also goes up the mast to repair the protective covering on the spreader.
Pippy is running a little low on adrenalin this week for some reason!
The wind continues to howl over Saturday and Sunday, with rain and more wind predicted through to Wednesday. We may be here for a few days. Finike marina is very pleasant, but rather expensive nowadays. They have put their prices up quite a lot this season.
This photo was taken by Deep Blue on another day, but seems appropriate for this blog!
4 comments:
great commentary and photos - takes me back 12 months to the same trip which we did under 20 knots
great to see Matelot performing so well - what fun
best regards to you both
Rupe and Kristin
Darkie & I really enjoy your wonderful pics and seeing Matelot and you in great synergy and wonderful adventures. Thinking of you especially and congratulations and best wishes for a happy birthday Cap'n Buck!! Much love, Marlyman and Dark
Happy birthday Bucky. Good to see you are still afloat and having a ball by the looks of it.
Are you still planning to sail back to NZ?
Cheers
from us both
JDS & Ali
Thank you all for your wonderful comments. It is really special to us to know that you are following our blog. Cap'n Buck and Pippy
Post a Comment