The Calm After the Storm
24 June 2014 | 400 miles south of Savu Savu, Fiji
Yes, last night was one heck of a rough night as we sailed through a major trough with double-reefed main and small jib. Our mates on 'Bravo' hove to and had a relaxing night as the storm passed over them. We had an anxious night, but again, it's good to know that when Buena Vista is suited up correctly she can handle almost all conditions. We woke up this morning to a beautiful sunny day with light winds. Spent much of the day relaxing and reading. The boys landed a few dorados (mahi mahi) but both were young and small so they were released. My eyes are crossing as I write this so it'll be short tonight. At sunset we didn't have much wind and were trying to decide whether to double-reef or not. Finally we did reduce sail and immediately we felt that we were going too slow but left the sails small. And good thing we did because a few hours later we were hit by a pretty big squall that lasted well over an hour and would have not been very comfortable with more sail area up. Note to self: Always double-reef at night! I just looked at the local weather and I see another one of those 'troughs' laying over Fiji so we may have to go through another rough night in the next few days. Maybe we'll heave-to next time.