Been well & truly knocked about, especially this morning. Was awoken before 6am to strong motion of the boat. We'd been motorsailing since 3am, in only 7kn (true) of following breeze... I had to reef hurriedly as the already strong winds increased rapidly to 25kn on the beam...! Big quartering seas built up from N (the Sea of Cortez, a.k.a. the Gulf of California) so every now & then we have shipped water - very noisily!
Slightly smoother sailing later in the day but still nice & fast. Occasional big wave still catches me out - used the 'bumstrap' to good effect in the galley earlier for washing up from last night and this morning. Caught up on some much-needed sleep this afternoon.
Warming up: air is 22.5C now - I've discarded my socks!
Spoke to Don Anderson (N6HG, 'Summer Passage') on the ham Baja Net early this morning. He's a fantastic weather 'guru' for the Pacific (and, he tells me, beyond) who spends most of his days collecting & analyzing weather info and giving forecasts over the SSB radio several times a day to yachts mainly S and W of California, where he lives in Oxnard. I shall almost certainly benefit from his advice as I sail to the Marquesas and beyond later this month. He told me that my radio signal is good & strong
but there is something amiss with the radio (an ALC problem) because it's distorting my voice... Good to hear that my newly-installed extra ground plate & new 3" copper strip to the ATU (as well as the cleaning up of the corrosion on the terminals ) are working well!
My daily run by the log today was 155 - down on the previous days of 164, 170, 170 & 176, but they were exceptional!!
Must organize myself for the night...