Gripping Account Of S/V Aquarelle While Leaving Nz

[Bob]

"Dear Friends and Family:
We are back in Nelson after departing for Australia and running into considerable trouble. Here's what happened."

The account of what happened to them last week:

http://www.cruiserlog.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3536

They're all safe and sound back in New Zealand.

 

[JKay]

Rather them than me

cheers Joe

 

[GMac]

A day or 2 earlier the Solo Trans Tasman Yacht race started. Course basically the same but started from New Plymouth, a bit north of Nelson. How'd you like to be in that then? I think most of those just caught the top of it but a few of the slower ones got a beating.

Surprised they didn't see that weather coming, it was obvious it was about to go very bad.

Good to see they got back safely though. One hell of a story for the grandkids. Hope it doesn't put them off carrying on.

 

[Salty John]

That tale reminded me of my own worst heavy weather sailing experience and I realised that last Friday was the 14th anniversary of the event. It was the worst storm for 20 years in Cape Town, South Africa, and I was caught by it on a 42' boat. I dug out the old Cape Times I've kept ever since:

We had motored flat out in an oily calm all day from our overnight anchorage at Dassen Island, off the west coast of the Cape, hoping to get back to Hout Bay before the forecast storm hit. We were 8 miles from home when it caught us and we, almost simultaneously, ran out of fuel.
It was staggering how quickly it went from calm to storm force 10 and then on to 12. We got all the sail off the boat, turned around and ran back from whence we had come, arriving in Saldanha Bay, 100 miles up the coast, a full day later. Wind speeds of over 100 knots were measured at Cape Town airport! Our anenometer read to 64 knots and there it became jammed early in the ordeal. I can identify and sympathise with those poor folk on Aquarelle.
Interestingly, the single hander Jill Knight, who has written several times for YM, on her old wooden sloop Cooe was caught in the same storm. She had rudder damage and no electronics but managed to limp into Saldanha a few hours after us. Amazing woman.

 

[Bob]

js48

Not a nice place to be caught in a big blow.

 

[Salty John]

Definitely not. The wind was blowing very slightly offshore, had it come around a few degrees we would have been on a lee shore with no hope of clawing off it.