Heading Back to Lord Howe Island

Cleared out of North Passage at 0800hrs yesterday and hoisted sail for NZ. Once clear of the Southern tip of LHI had good wind fromN/NE and moderate seas , passed close to Balls Pyramid and made good time, doing over 6 knots all day. I reefed the mainsail early on and this took some of the pressure of the boat but she continued on at over 6 knots. I boiled rice and had that tinned curry for dinner and about 9 noticed wind rising above 20 knots , at other times settling around 18 knots which would have been perfect. I felt it was time to roll in the headsail - but it was stuck. I crawled up forward with my headlight on to try and figure out what had happened but couldn't see anything wrong and went back to try various maneuvers to free it - like heading directly into the wind to make it flap around a bit - still nothing - i tried tightening up the sheet and pulling on the other one , letting the sail way out - nothing - and then it came down! So once again we had a headsail in the water - but nowhere to hide this time to sort it out - so I started the motor and got the autopilot to motor ahead gently into the wind and I clipped on and crawled forward again to sort it all out. I got drenched of course and thrown round a bit but eventually had all the sail back on deck and tied down in a big bundle at the bow. I decided to leave it there rather than try to stow it mainly because opening the hatch would no doubt result in floods of water down below.
Then I crawled back to the cockpit and set a course for Lord Howe under motor - we were 70 miles away. It was 11pm by this time and I was glad of the chance to rest and sleep for a bit . I left the mainsail up to give a bit of a boost and it also stabilises the boat.

Righht now we are making 6 knots and we are 28 miles away. The swells are about 2 meters and the wind is 18 knots from North. Once safely back I will be reviewing the whole plan. Maybe I wont get to NZ after all.....

Sapphire Out

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