Front

1 October 2013

We decided to wait for the front that was coming our way and then sail to Sydney with wind coming from the west. With a nice sun and barely any wind we lifted the anchor and sailed slowly to Gabo Island, the southeast cape of Australia. The ‘Europa’ joined us and together we passed by the cape. Slowly, because we prepared the ship by reefing all the sails. The dark sky behind us foretold the ominous change of weather.
The next thing we knew it was chaos. Out of nowhere a huge gust of wind fell over the ship. One moment we had wind from the northwest of 5 knots and the other moment it was southwest with 55 knots! Before we could say anything the preventers of the foresail and the mainsail snapped and with a big bang both sails jibed which caused both booms to splinter. The sea, even so close to shore, builds up quickly and with big waves we swing from side to side. Despite the broken boom we did not dare to take down the foresail. Luckily the sail did not tear and we all pulled together and managed to take away the main sail and secured what was left of the booms. With only the foresail we did 9 knots. The wind is now over its peak. We have a storm jib and a very small mizzen due to three reefs, the sun started shining and we are licking our wounds. No one got hurt and in the end it could have been worse, but we will have a lot of work to do in Sydney making two new booms.