Storm...

In the late afternoon dark clouds started to gather and soon lightenings could be seen at distance. Dafne was under sail with one hour to go to our anchoring destination when the storm reached us. As we ran up to the mast to put sails down (or actually reef it), the squall hit us and wind speed went from 10 kn to 40 kn in one minute together with hail falling. We tried to bring the sail down but it was blowing too hard. As we released the halyards the sail just did not come down. In the meanwhile the boat went into a broach with 40 kn wind in the sail. We should have completely eased of the main and jib sheets to avoid the broach, mistake. But anyway we finally managed to bring the sail down and went on to our protected bay under engine. The whole episode lasted 15 minutes and then it was quiet again. Lessons learned: start preparing way in advance of squall actually hitting you, ease of sheets before bringing sails down, if going into broach sheets should be totally and immediately eased off...


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