Hola,

We're safely in Menorca now and we have Lane onboard again for the next few days.

We certainly did have an exciting sail in the Tramontana, it was a pitch black night with no moon and despite arriving 3 hours early the wind was as forecast at 30 knots but there were some sustained gusts of up to 45. With just half the Genoa out we trucked along at 8 knots, occasionally surfing up to 11 knots.

We didn't really have any drama, only that because it was a hot night I had some of the smaller side portholes open, shortly after the wind arrived we got a big wave over the deck sending water onto our cooker and also the aft port bed - again lesson learned.

It was the strongest wind we've had on a passage so far, on deck in the pitch black with the noise of the wind howling, the waves crashing sending spray everywhere and the yacht pitching unpredictably through the waves it was a little scary but being down below was somehow much less threatening. With just half the genoa out there was really nothing to do on deck except lookout every ten minutes for other boats (which we could do from beind the dodger), so we sat for hours on the settee watching our instruments and chartplotter repeated on the TV, it was quite mesmerizing. The autopilot was amazing too, so strong and dependable even in storm conditions, I can't begin to describe how uncomfortable we would have been if we'd had to steer from behind the wheels.

Whippersnapper is a very strong yacht and we always felt safe but trying to sleep while being tossed around like a cork was very difficult, it felt like we were on a roller coaster ride! By the time arrived in Menorca then we were very tired and upon dropping anchor immediately slept for 3 hours.

In the afternoon we picked up Lane and caught up on the stories of our land based counterparts. We were also treated by all these classic wooden yachts sailing around our anchorage as (for we found out later when in port) the Panerai Classic Yacht Challenge was on. At the marina later in the evening we had 40+ of the most beautiful classic wooden yachts in the world lined up on the marina so we could walk along and see each one, you've never seen so much glossy varnish and polished brass :) Cambria and Creole were particular favourites, Cambria a 135ft cutter launched in 1928, Creole a 214ft three mast topsail schooner launched in 1927.