L'Eau Commotion Westabout

By early morning the wind had dropped to about 18 knots so a plan had to be formulated to get the gear aboard without further damage to it, the vessel, but more particularly to yours truly as it is an awkward heavy piece of gear with a large submerged rudder. There was still a confused 6 metre swell running and working out how to undo the bolts without getting caught up in the contraption presented quite a challenge. Suffice to say no bark was lost and everything retrieved OK with only one nut and 1 19mm spanner dropped overboard and underway by late morning. Various sail combinations have unsuccessfully been tried in the quartering 15 knot breeze but alas apart from a few short coffee breaks I've been hand steering for the last eight hours - an all lifetime record for me - and as soon as a bit of rump and spuds are warmed up I'll be back out under the stars. They are not as great as there cracked up to be from the viewpoint of standing behind a chilly SS wheel.