7.10 am: Log 53, Wind E 5-8 m/sec. (moderate breeze), cloudy and rain. Departure from Lista harbour. Sailing for Egersund, where we are planning on staying, waiting for the right wind for crossing the North Sea.
9.10 am: Log 64. Wind increasing, we reef a bit as the ship is very challenged by the waters.
10.16 am: Log 80,4. The strap for the rudder suddenly breaks, we take down the sail and hold the rudder to the side of the ship as we change the strap. Difficult to hold the course while changing, but we succeed.
When the sail is raised again, we see that some of the ropes have twisted themselves around the yard and we have to take down the sail again.
We put the sail across the ship and send a man wearing his survival suit and a lifeline out on the yard to cut away the ropes
The swell is pretty high and it is impossible to hold the course with the sail down and across the ship, as it continuously gets caught in the water and presses the ship abeam of the wind. The ship rolls a lot and a wash strake is split by the yard.
It can be dangerous in a high swell...
When the sail is up again the wind have increased even further and we reef again.
11.07 am: Log 86,6 Wind E 10-14 m/sec. (Strong breeze). We enter the sound at Egersund.
12.00 am: We are in port and the rain is severe. Tents up, lunch and café-visits. Then inspection and strengthening of the rudder withy. The broken rudderstrap is repaired, we need as a reserve. We buy two drag anchors, in this way we can hold the aft stern in the wind.