We woke to find most things in our refrigerator were frozen including the hard boiled eggs that I had prepared before leaving Bellingham. So we found some cheese and added that to left over french bread and it was great.  Leaving Poet’s cove was beautiful and the winds had calmed down to 15 knots so we had a perfect launch.  Rounding the western tip of South Pender Island, we entered the Swanson Channel heading North toward Galiano Island. The winds varied between 10 and 15 knots, so all was going smoothly. We sailed on a downwind course for 2 hours alternating between a broad reach and a “wing on wing” sail position.  By 1 pm the winds kicked up to between 15 and 20 knots, and we were really making good time at 8 to 10 knots of boat speed.

The weather was forecasted to change around 2 pm, so we were watching for that as we made the turn into the Trincomali Channel.  Lunch was snacks and a combination of pasta salad and asian noodle salad that we bought for a picnic the night before we left Bellingham. (Eggs were still to cold to eat).

All of the sudden around 2:30pm we saw a wall of black water coming our way. Not a wave but just the color and texture of the water moving toward us. The sky darkened and all hell was about to break loose. The first thought was to lower the sails, but the wind hit before we had that chance. Our jib sail (front) has a very poor furling system without a winch, and when we checked out our boat I inquired about that.  The guy said to “furl by hand”.  It didn’t sound reasonable but I let it go. Now we need to furl the jib before dropping the main sail, because being a catamaran there is no back stay, so too much pressure is on the mast if the jib sail is up without the main sail.  So we had to solve the furling issue before we could lower any sails. Meanwhile the boat is blowing all over the place in winds from 35 to 40 knots.  Wow. The furling line was not long enough to reach a winch in the cockpit, so we ended up tying another line to it, then wrapping it around a deck stantion, and running it to the winch.  I started to “bump” the power winch and the rope held.  It was working.  As we furled, the lines forward were getting caught in the wind, and we could see a “hair ball” of different ropes balled up together. We had the jib 75% in by then, so we had less “flapping”.  Dianna went forward with my knife with the intention of cutting the ropes free, until she noticed that one was part of our “lazy jack” system for lowering the main sail in the bag. So as the boat is bouncing around in the amazing winds, she was battling the “hairball”. Meanwhile, the canvas enclosure covering the cockpit was coming undone with some zippers giving way and snaps breaking free, so the confusion in the cockpit increased. I had started the engines (2 one in each hull) when we first encountered the high winds, so I moved us into the wind and dropped the mainsail while Dianna was working. It did not come down perfectly but it was down, and we were now much safer. We put on our personal flotation devices (PFD’s) just in case. The we heard a loud alarm with a light that the port engine was overheating so I turned it off.  Dianna was able to navigate the lines free and we could then furl the jib to completion. Now sails were down but I was worried about the overheating engine. I tried to start it again but still overheating.  I tried to motor with one engine and rudder but no real luck. We gather up some things that had flown around the cockpit so we could give the engine a moment to cool. This entire time we are in radio contact with our other boats, many of whom were having similar issues. After 10 minutes I tried the port engine again and it came on with no light.  Yea. As we gathered our selves we got word from the leader that we would change course and duck into Telegraph Bay on Thetis Island for the night. With the trottles kicked up to 2800 rpms, we headed north into the waves and wind. We made slow progress but we were safe and moving …… we have a meeting this morning in 15 minutes, so I need to stop for now.  More later, but we got to Telegraph Harbor just fine and all is good here. Nice day today,sun it out! Yea!

No time to spell check and edit.  Will do that later today.