From Islay to the Isle of Man
10:22 am. Log 784. Weighed anchor. This morning at 07:20, we received a report from the Danish Meteorological Office saying that the notified 18-23 m/s had gone more northerly and instead we could expect 10-12 m/s from a north-westerly direction for the next 36 hours.
11:28 am. Log 789. We take in the sail so we can tighten the new rudder rope. Instead we have to replace it with the spare rope.
13:08 pm. Log 800. We reef the lowest rope, because the speed (10 knots) and large swells are loading the rudder. Weather forecast from Malin Head: NW 29 knots (15 m/s).
13:23 pm. Log 801. We reef the second rope. Suits are now obligatory.
13:42 pm. Log 804. We reef the third rope.
14:16 pm. Log 808. NW 18 m/s. About 15 minutes ago the strap of the rudder snapped. We took in the sail and replaced the rudder strap. Right now we are situated with the side to the swells and with gusts of wind up to 23 m/s. We are drifting south-east, luckily clear of the Mull of Kintyre. We are rolling 15-20 degrees to both sides, but are not taking in water.
15:10 pm. Log 812. We set sail with all ropes and fall off towards Peel on Isle of Man.
15:42 pm. Log 816. We shake out a rope. We consider sailing towards the coast of Northern Ireland – the shortest distance to a harbour – but it is not possible because of the size of the swells. For 2-3 hours we will be sailing against the current, so we stay to the east in the North Channel, where the tide is not as strong. We expect to reach an area were the swell is not too violent.
17:46 pm. Log 831. The rudder clears the water from time to time. The swells are 40 metres long, 3 metres high. Wind NW 15-18 m/s (near gale to gale).
19:20 pm. log 840 Wind and swell have dropped and we shake out another rope.
01:26 am. Log 866 Our speed is down and to arrive in Peel with the high tide, we put up a full sail (without waking up the crew not on duty)
05:00 am. Log 885. We rowed into Peel harbour. The sail was taken in just inside the breakwater. We put in, and could go to sleep after an eventful trip from Islay.
To sum up, the sailing today showed us that we have to work on the rudder-system, which is a weak link (see also boatswain's diary). It was good to see that we were able to take in the sail relatively fast, even though it was taken down abeam. And it gave a good sense of security to see how well the ship managed with the swell abeam.