What a night, we barely had any sleep! The light NW wind that was forecast had gone round to the North and was about a Force 4. We had lost the protection of the sandbank as the wind veered, the boat spent the night rocking, rolling and banging about, very unpleasant.

Not a great start, but the sunrise was good. We were soon under way running with the wind with just the genoa giving as a comfortable 6 knots. With the sail up, the boat motion was smoothed and as we took one hour turns at the helm, we were able to catch a bit of sleep in between watches.

The wind built to a steady F5 from the NW a bit earlier than expected, but still a nice sail. We rounded the Point of Ayre on the North of the island, keeping close in to avoid the turbulent waters further out. Crossing Ramsay Bay we put a reef into the genoa as the wind was now at 25-27 knots.

Passing Maughold Head the wind was now getting gusty, being affected by the hills. Regular gusts of 30-32 hit us so in went a large second reef. We were now whizzing along at 7-8 knots in moderate seas with a handkerchief for propulsion. Then it hit us, bang 45 knots sustained, a new record for my sailing experience and a scary one too! Sail down, I was fearful of the sail shedding or the rig breaking, so the last 10 miles were spent motoring,. Entering Douglas the outer harbour was too choppy to moor up, we were already tired and needed a good nights sleep, so we opted for the inner harbour where there was no wind at all. Downside, is we lost our gamble with the wind, but two out of three days is not bad. We’re now stuck here for a few days, but there are worst places to be holed up.

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