"MC" wrote in message
...


Donal wrote:

It was February,
and we were beating into an F5 under sail and 50 hp engine.

Why the engine? F5 should be good sailing conditions for that boat?

Hmmm!

The boat was a centre cockpit Barvaria 42. The wind was a very cold
easterly(4-6C). The owner had his wife aboard. She was diagnosed with
bronchitis a week later, and it took her a couple of months to recover.

The wind was almost dead on the nose, and the decision to motor made sense
at the time. In Setanta, I would have sailed further off the wind. I
might also have had the engine on (depending on time and tide constraints).
Setanta would definitely have slammed a lot more.



Regards


Donal
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