2007-06-10

Whenever the subject of parachute sea anchors comes up with other sailors,
they have always been amazed that we have sat out 3 storms on ours. We're
now making that 4. We tried to beat the oncoming low pressure system coming
north, but it came a bit faster and a lot stronger than early predictions.
We tried to just push on thru the Eastern edge, but it was producing such a
sharp, confused sea that the autopilot couldn't cope with the steering, We
kept reducing sail until we only had up the storm staysail. Then the wind
started to ease. I figured putting on a bit bigger sail would give us the
power to steer more easily, so started to set up to change staysails. Then
saw the pivot socket for the autopilot was starting to be moved around by
the force on it. started to set up the sea anchor, as we couldn't face hand
steering, then decided to give the sailing one more go, and see if I could
fix the pivot tube on the move. As I hoisted the other staysail, a gust hit
and the shackle for the halyard broke, dropping the whole mess back on the
deck. I tied it all down and deployed the parachute, while hoping we
weren't making ourselves sitting ducks for the following low. Spoke to
Pacific Seafarerson the radio and they checked Metvuw Weather to find that
the next low is weakening and going south. Should be getting light wind and
flat sea in about 1 day. Have the tillerpilot pivot beefed up now, will
explore using the spinnaker halyard for the staysail tomorrow when it's
light again. Tonite we just go to sleep and rest. We really need to.
we're so tired we;re sick right now, but feeling better even after a couple
hours sleep. Position 31 deg 47 min S, 175 deg 09 min E, hardly moving at
all except up and down about 20 feet. Karen now able to drink water and eat
a little licorice, so things are better than this afternoon, even though
it's dark, raining, and blowing a low end gale. We're going back to bed.
Ted