No more showers and squalls forecast, so headed upwind on starboard tack and reduced sail. The wind freshened to 20-25 knots so hand steered.
Around 2pm, tacked and got in closer to the Cape's hills where the waves soon became much smaller and easier to handle. Watched a tugboat hauling a large barge for hours, it was doing 1-2 knots crabbing sideways pointing into the near gale with the barges huge windage acting like a shuttlcocks feathers, must have been burning allot of fuel too. They later reached more favorable inshore waters and port ok.
However at the Cape, the wind increased further, tacked back to starboard tack and reached the Cape's lighthouse bay late afternoon. Unfortunately the jib halyard parted (at wire to rope join seizing) while lowering sails. 30 knot gusts hit between 10 knot lulls.
Neap tides allowed Teria to anchor in close as possible. Had 3 ft below keel a lowest tide predicted overnight. Set the poptop to "dodger mode", with the front lashed down to the deck and the back angled up like a windsheild while cooking dinner. Later all hatches were battened down for the night. Had the fishfinder on during watch checks, to monitor depth/bottom below keel and watch "fish TV". They were also splashing around the boat.
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| Cape Cleveland lighthouse |
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| Safely anchored |
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| Strong winds |
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| Sundown |
The wind kept moaning through the rig overnight. Slept well thanks to the heavy CQR with all chain and plenty of scope out. (plus anchor alarm on). Early hours the moon rose so plenty of vizibility. The tidal flow current reversed and the boat rolled around allot more. I lowered the centerplate and put a few water bottles down into the keel wells below the cabin floorboards which helped improve the motion.
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