Seasickness took it's toll aboard Skye. Even with a Scopolamine patch, George got hit with it starting before we crossed the Potato Patch. It was a tough afternoon, with him functional but dry heaving and unable to keep down even water. AFter nightfall, he started shivering, which was not good. Wednesday night was one of the 2-3 most unpleasant nights I've spent at sea. Winds were 27-35, but it was the completely random washing machine of the sea state that was so tough. Skye held up fine, we had some minor gear failure but nothing big. I was glad I'd finished a really substantial emergency rudder earlier, but really did not want to have to deploy it. Thursday morning, George reported that for all that work we'd made 78 miles. If we turn around for Moss Landing we'd cover the 150 miles on the boat that I needed to qualify for Pac Cup, and he still had not eaten or drunk anything. Qualifying for Pac Cup was the main reason for doing the race, and neither of us could see putting George through another two days of that sort of misery, so around we went. Of course as soon as the motion changed George improved, so we actually had a nice sail back into Moss Landing. The first 4-5 hours though....still a washing machine with no discernable wave pattern out there.
1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"