Day 11
02 April 2007 | On board
Greg
We experienced our first tropical squall this afternoon as we close in on the ITCZ. The radar alarm went off alerting us to an approaching storm so we got all prepared and sat in the cockpit watching this front closing in on us from the east. As it got closer it seemed to break up in intensity and all we got was some light rain. The wind actually died away so I shook the reefs out of the main and unfurled the genoa thinking this was a good time to wash the sails. Everything was fine for a while and then BAMM! We got hit with everything up. One minute it was blowing about 10 knots, the next it was 35 and pouring. We pulled the main down and shortened the headsail and rode it out but we got quite a lot of water down below because we were unprepared and were not paying enough attention.
The wind has died away now and we are motor sailing under genoa only. I've opted to keep the main down for the time being because it's less of a hassle to shorten sail when these storms hit. Technically we are now in the ITCZ and from reports from other boats it's about 3 degrees deep (180 miles) so we should be through it in a day and a half then hopefully plain sailing to Fatu Hiva.
The booby is no longer. We won't say any more on that subject.