December 6 — The Storm

This was the hardest day so far. There was not much chance to grab a phone for photos or videos or to blog as we had to hang on with both hands.

December 5th morning started well: beam winds around 15 knots, current with us, both sails up, and speeds climbing to 7–8 knots. We had breakfast together and enjoyed a rare stretch of easy conversation.

By late morning, conditions shifted abruptly. Winds swung wildly and built to 23 knots with gusts to 30. Waves steepened and grew. With two reefs already in the main, we reduced the genoa further. The ride became aggressive — hopping from wave to wave — and attempts to tack for comfort didn’t help.

That evening and into the night, storms began forming directly ahead of us. Lightning followed. We switched radar to storm-tracking mode and altered course repeatedly, hoping cells would slide past. Instead, new ones kept forming directly in front of us.

All electronics — phones, iPads, computers, even Starlink — went into the oven to hopefully act as a Faraday cage in case lightning hit us and whipped out our electronics. For hours, Rod and I traded sleep for vigilance, altering course minute by minute. The lightning was intense but mostly sheet lightning, without thunder so it was hard to judge distance.

Inside the boat, movement became almost comical — crawling on hands and knees rather than trying to stand. Anything not secured went to ground.

By morning, the storms finally eased. Winds dropped into the 7–10 knot range, seas settled slightly, and we got sail back up. I started doing ETA math: every extra knot of speed meant shaving a full day off the passage. Somewhere in there, the idea for a simple ETA calculator app was born.