Good Lord Man!... we left not only a safe harbour... but did it with a crew
of 5 drinking beer and later Lamb's Navy overproof rum and coffee to cut the
chill as Overproof pressed hard and screamed along under a triple reefed
main and my 110 jib reefed to 90. Not one single boat did we see out there.

You didn't see another boat because good sailors don't invite disaster by
taking their vessels into such conditions.
It's one thing to encounter bad weather on a trip. It's utterly poor sailing to
bring a boat out into 50 knots for no good reason.
Of course we know you did no such thing. I can appreciate your level of
frustration at this point, Mooron. We all get some bad luck in our lives. Hang
in there.

RB