What to do, what to do... the once again the weather gawds made my choice for me. Come this morning it was still blowing strong out of the north. It was forecast to swing around to the sou' east and I took care of a few things online and waited to see what would happen. Sure enough, it came about, but with a lot more poop than I expected. One thing was for sure, I couldn't stay where I was, wide open to the south like that. The wind was fair for a run up to the Gulf Islands, but both my emotional state and the my gut told me "bad idea". I was far from top form and it was getting really gnarly out there, with a gale in the offing.

I detest turning back, but nothing pointed to carrying on, other than a favourable wind direction. I think if I had crew I would have headed north, but with winds like that, when something goes wrong it happens fast and there is only me to respond, and today I didn't trust myself.
With a curse at my caution and my laggard constitution, I headed south to Trial Island.

Anyone who sails in this area knows that the area East of Trial Island can be nasty in a blow, regardless of wind direction. Today was a wind against tide situation, and it really got nasty out there. I thought it was intolerable to motor in such wind so I pulled out my genny about 1/2 way. Big mistake. By the time I got it sheeted in it had blown out with a bad rip about 1/3 the way down from the head of the sail. SOB! So much for sailing.

It was a hell of a thing getting that jib reefed back in (Mowat reef was on my lee and couldn't bear off as much as I would have liked) and I had only just done so when a great sucking hole crossed my bow and I fell into hell. Her nose dove in and I had a foot of water running across the decks, and even the house was buried in green water. We then broached and rolled a rail into the sea-my very first broach and it sure isn't something I can recommend. That was by far the biggest wave I've ever encountered.

Of course she shook it off and came back about; she's a good, trustworthy boat. I turned away from the seas to make for Enterprise channel, conditions worse than anything I've been in, worse than when we had that long downwind run Johnston Strait this fall. Damn Juan de Fuca Strait - you never know what she's gonna throw at you. It was much more than the wind; currents can really charge out of Mayor channel and it was a good tide today. Put 30 knot winds against tides like that and you bugger with it at your peril!

Once in the lee of Trial Island the rollers slackened off for a bit, which allowed me to make some sense of the carnage below. One of Tracy's vases had popped out of God knows where and had smashed into a thousand pieces on the sole. And silly bugger that I am, I had neglected to seal the V-berth hatch, and gallons of seawater had shot in, soaking the bed and drenching everything else in the bow. A brand new duvet too. I'm gonna catch it for that one.

Still, the rest of the run to Vic harbour was a lot of fun. The waves picked up off Clover point, and it felt great to be back in the saddle again, keeping her on course as the seas kept trying to swing her fat arse around. Of course it would have been a lot more fun to sail instead of motor, but with that torn jib it wasn't an option, as there was no way in hell I was climbing on that rolling deck to swap in the storm jib or try and raise the main. I passed a sailboat nosing into the weather, and they were pitching so much they reminded me of the oil jacks you see in Alberta. I was starting to feel like my old self again. The sea can do that to you.

The trip back to harbour was much too short, but I knew better then hang around out there, and I'm at peace with my decision. Things were definitely not going my way, and my gut was right about turning tail. I'm irritated about that genoa, and I think I will just replace it rather than have it fixed. I like the fact that it's 8 oz cloth, but with the rotten foot and these small tears I've sewed up  (plus the big one from today) that will have to be properly patched, it probably isn't worth it. On Saturday I'll pull it and run up the storm jib for now.

I've also got to bring this engine to heel, once and for all. She has never run better since all the work, but the hard starting remains, and I will have that resolved before the season really starts, even if I have to bring in a diesel tech. There's either air getting into the fuel lines somewhere or something mechanical that is causing low compression. My gut tells me that I have a cracked piston ring, but I'll know tomorrow as I'll do a compression test on all of the cylinders.