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I raced sailboats in Puget Sound for 15 years or so. Being prepared, aware and running the boat with care, I had respect for but never was in fear of the weather.
That is until we did a Southern Straights race out of Vancouver.
It was a long (100+ mile) overnight race that started out in beautiful conditions with 15-20 knots of breeze and nicely rolling water. The wind built all afternoon and evening until we were in 30 knots of wind, very choppy seas and the blackest of skies. The wind continued to build until we were in 40+ knots with gusts well beyond that (we were guessing 60-70). By this time, most of the crew were seasick, we had to drop the main sail and put up a #4 blade storm jib for some control. When a big puff tore the jib sheet (a line that was close to 1" in diameter) in half, we finally gave up and called it a night. The problem was motoring to the next closest port in Nanimo took a couple of hours. We eventually arrived and tied up in a marina and those who were not already crashed on the boat walked across the street in full foul weather gear to a hotel (at 5AM) and got a room. We all just grabbed a horizontal surface (bed, couch, floor) and passed out for a couple of hours.
All totaled we tore a few sails, destroyed one sheet, had lots of vomit to wash off the deck but no one was seriously hurt.
Even now years later I can still remember that night like it was yesterday.
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gary
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