Ophelia Offshore

As the passage continued south, we were both becalmed and walloped.

The worst of it was an eventful night watch as we passed Cape Mendocino – The main was heavily reefed in 30kts+ of wind with 9ft swell standing up taller than Jesse behind the cockpit. At one point, the MFD (multi-function display) decided it was a good time for a forced restart, which also restarts the autopilot. In the complete darkness, we noticed the boat was facing the wrong way not because we could see it, but because we could feel the change of the direction of the swell. The disorientation in the complete darkness is real. Jesse grabbed the wheel and quickly had us straightened out by feel, the MFD restarted, and we were on our way again.

Shortly after, the wind gusts picked up in intensity and the main unfurled itself – the pressure from the reefing line/furling line was overwhelmed by the pressure on the sail and let the sail unroll. Exactly what you don’t want when the wind speed picks up. Jesse, tethered in, had to go on deck and toggle the locking switch on the furler into the lock position which is a manual override of the reefing line. We then had to furl the sail back in, no easy task in heavy wind.

Eventually the winds calmed, we went to bed, and woke up to blue bird skies and large rolling swell. We took turns hand steering the boat down the waves, catching the surf in a 22k lb boat was quite exhilarating.

The swell continued to lessen until it was nearly gone – By the time we reached San Fran it was glassy. Is was a crisp, bright morning with no fog for our arrival in San Fran, a rare treat. Jesse got some drone footage of us