Having had a successful sail back to Brighton Marina I was desperate to get back out to sea. I made another passage plan and was raring to go, filled with confidence from my first sail. The forecast was for 11-15knts south-westerly. The aim of the sail was to see if I could sail the boat solo, my dad came along as crew, but we wanted to see how much I could do independently.
As we drove to the marina, the sea looked tricky but being southwest, that was expected. Plus, it almost always looks worse than it was. The wind had built and checking the wind speed on Newhaven harbour arm we were already at 15knts gusting up to 18. As we walked down the slipway towards the boat, I could hear the wind whistling through the rigging. The butterflies in my stomach were well and truly in flight.
The moment we tried to exit the marina I knew it was too much. I was being thrown around the boat unable to sit anywhere securely. I ended up splattered in the footwell as that was the only place I was stable enough to steer from. I was having to face backwards to allow me to reach the tiller extension, but this made me feel super seasick. We tried to unfurl some of the jib, but it was incredibly hard to control as the rope kept slipping. We ended up unfurling too much jib meaning we were overpowered.
The next thing we needed was to hoist some mainsail, but we needed to have a reef in as we were already struggling. The issue is the reefing lines aren’t led back to the cockpit, meaning one of us needed to go on foredeck to do it. With me barely coping in the cockpit, it wasn’t safe. By this point I was scared shitless and freezing cold. I knew we needed to go back.
We turned around and with a sinking feeling in my stomach we made our way back into the marina. As soon as the boat was tied up, I just started crying. I feel like a complete failure. If I can’t even handle 18knt gusts how the hell am I going to manage the eventual plan.
I’m sitting here with a cup of tea and doing my best to take a breath. Despite feeling defeated, the first test sail has been useful. We have identified some key issues that need fixing:
- I struggle to control the jib furling
- The mainsail reefing isn’t feasible solo as it needs you to go on foredeck
- I can’t hold myself in a fixed position when the boat heels over in the waves
The good thing is these are all things that can be fixed. Now I just need some time to figure out exactly what the solution is.