So I left you in a state of euphoria. Everything was perfect. Life couldn’t be better. I was philosophical and emotional. I thought my karma had come and I deserved all this. And then… you guessed it. Shit after shit.

When we reached our westing point we doused the parasail and raised the mainsail in preparation for Dragonfly to catch up from their fish and sail dramas I mentioned in the previous post. So we drifted gently with a tiny little piece of foresail to keep us balanced whilst we waited. We were in no rush. It was a picture perfect morning. Light to brisk breeze got me thinking about how exciting the final stretch was going to be. I had mentally finished the crossing. In my head this was my final sail change, we would be heading on a perfect beam reach all the way to Hiva Oa.

I was sitting patiently on my flybridge when a bigger than normal swell lifted Arabella up and tossed her over her back gently with just enough force to cause our boom to bounce. Even though the boom was secured with both a main sheet and jibe preventer unfortunately the prevailing massive bang snapped the reefing line and very fortunately the next reef line prevented the boom from collapsing on our Bimini. Irony is that I have been wanting to replace this line for months because it squeaks terribly when under strain. Anyway now I was forced to but without the new rope I wanted and never whist the mainsail is up and deep in the Pacific.

So up the boom I went to mouse a new line through the boom. And zzzzz goes my fishing rod. I forgot to mention that whilst we were drifting along waiting for Dragonfly I decided to do some fishing. And the rod that went zzz was the rod with a huge lure on. The kind of lure that only a fish 200lb or great would ever touch. I was cursing my luck. Anyway I scampered down and by the time I got there the monster fish had spat the lure. It is at this very moment I start to think this day is going to be bad.

Anyway back up the boom and we fixed the reefing line. I am actually quite proud considering I’ve never done this before. It’s amazing how resourceful you can be when you have no other option.

Finally Dragonfly approached and we are off. Not a few moments after all sails are flying and we are moving at a steady 9 knots when zzzzz the other line goes off. This is a smaller lure but at this speed the spool will loose all its line quickly if we can’t slow the boat down. I call for the team to release the sheet but one of the sheets gets a tangle and we can’t get the sail away. I listened to the sound of the reel spooling cursing my goddamn luck. Then miraculously we untangle the line and furl the headsail away just before we have run out of line. 600m in total. And I begin the job of hauling in this fish. After what seems like a long time but probably was only 15-20 min I get the fish near the boat and ew see its a Mahi Mahi because she does a famous tail walking dance the Mahi Mahi is famous for. It is actually at this moment that I’m surprised the fish still has the energy. So we carry on hauling her in when off she goes again on her little dance but this time she puts in a little more effort and manages the spit the hook. I am seething. All the work and another blow for the day.

But god was not done with us yet. Out of nowhere this completely un-forecasted wind hits us. 18-25knots gusting 30 knots and we are sailing a close reach. The sea state gets angry in no time and suddenly we are charging along very uncomfortably. Nothing feels good. The boat is creaking everywhere. The water is speeding past. We are doing 12 knots but it is hard sailing and for some reason I cannot get the boat balance between sails and steering and the boat is veering left and right. With the auto pilot, every gust she rounds up and then over corrects and goes right down. I decide to hand steer because now I am getting a little nervous. We calmed things down for a bit but start to worry that we could have these conditions for the next 4 days and only Arabella (my daughter) is truly comfortable on the helm but 4 days would be too much for us. So I asked Delphine and Big Alex to hand steer much to their reluctance but soon they were both getting more comfortable. During this time I was racking my brain as to what was wrong with the boat. I started tweaking everything but the more I tweaked the worse I made it. Finally I took a short 60min rest and when I got up I realised my stupidity. With the reefs in I had over sheet the headsail and undershot the main and the whole boat was just unbalanced. Anyway, I also decided to deploy the storm jib and put less sail to get more control and suddenly everything clicked. The boat started to listen and as we like to say she started to purr. No need to continue staring at the instruments waiting, expecting the autopilot to fail. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all relaxing yet. Still the wind was pumping and the sounds of heavy seas and strong winds can be very disconcerting and the team endured a stressful on the edge night. I must say I am so proud of Alex and Delphine. It was not easy under those conditions and the boat was speeding along with so little control. They both put their serious effort holding it all together whilst it was a mess. I am blessed to have two such determined people on the crew.

It is now early morning when I am writing this and everyone is asleep, The boat is back completely in control and sailing beautifully., We are going 10 knots sun 18knots true wind. Life is good again.

800nm to go and flying like a bird!