L'Eau Commotion Westabout

Day 27 8pm Thursday 4th July 2019 ( UTC+8 )
If you were looking for a word to describe the shenanigans going on in the pre dawn darkness that would be it. With only the double reefed main up in the strong Nor'Wester and a regular alarm set to keep an eye on the traffic a sudden lull then backing of the main then much thunder and lightning and gale force from the South South West had me rapidly donning wet weather gear and harness to discover the windpilot vane was at a very odd angle. It was detached from the vertical tube and hanging on only by a thin 6mm rod. I found some cord handy and lashed it up, removed the plywood vane and rotated the steering paddle to the vertical out of the water. All this accompanied by heavy rain and almost continuous thunder and lightning and careering off at a great rate of knots who knows where. The seas whilst not that large were chaotic as the waves from the north were met with a new set from the South blowing into what was later discovered to be a 2 knot South going current. Anyhow the autopilot which was on standby soon had the direction sorted, the wind eased, more sail was set, the wind came up...... - you get the picture. As the sea state was such a mess I sort of spent the rest of the morning just running before the wind but the afternoon settled in OK and we are now reaching to the NNW under double reefed main and staysail and incidentally clear of the current. I think I have the bits to fix the Windpilot which I suspect are buried beneath a years supply of rice and porridge. The search will commence when the seas subside.