L'Eau Commotion Westabout

Day 71 8pm Saturday 17th August 2019 ( UTC +1 )
The strong East to South East winds experienced throughout today were long incorporated in the weather routing and were expected to give no trouble but this wasn't quite the case. In the event the 30 knots forecast was amended to 36 knots and I reckon they threw in a few tangles too. Neither the windpilot nor the autopilot could handle the double reefed main with the wind from nearly astern so sail area was reduced to a third of the jib and half of the staysail. The seas became quite steep and breaking, knocking L'Eau Commotion sideways every so often but it became apparent no damage or over stress would result so though uncomfortable we carried on though only averaging just over 6 knots. The wind has just eased and under a full jib and moon the sailing is superb. A short period of calm can be expected tonight but small price to pay for rounding The Cape of Storms in winter without a scratch or tear to the gear or driver.