In a conversation on the SSB radio today I was asked why I was going so slowly...for a catamaran...'Why dont you go 10-15 knots, get 'there' earlier reduce your exposure to the elements by a few days?' Very good point. I could do that with little effort, throw in a bit of main sail, take out the reef in the head sail and I would be smartly moving along at almost double the speeds that I am now averaging. But,as in all life, nothing comes free. There is a price that I dont want to pay for the possible consequences.

This is a rough sea - I would increase the pressure on the rudders and the steering system (faster more pressure to turn)...I would put much more load on the autopilots...I would increase the pressures on the hulls as they hit some very big waves...I would double the pressure on the sails and mast and rigging. Any one of these elements fails, and it would leave me a sitting duck paddling lamely around the Indian Ocean.

So... in other seas I might take a very different approach but in this sea with its diabolical nature, I will try to be not hare nor duck... but stay beneath my shell and be the tortoise.