Well

We never expected that!
Our third night at sea was the worst any of us have ever experienced...
Started building up through the day
The forecast wasn't actually that bad
Local coastguards were saying F4-6 possibly F7 over Finisterre
We ended up getting 40+ knots for over 12 hours with horrible seas
I was terribly seasick so effectively useless (not that I'm much good anyway haha)
Spent the whole night awake and terrified in the front cabin listening to the waves breaking over the front of the boat and rolling down to the back
Cockpit full of water
Slamming into the sea
All these are bad enough but when you add in the noise its enough to send you over the edge!
I never imagined it could be so loud - screaming in the rigging, rattling all the halyards and lines, sails flogging..
Not one of us slept for over 24 hours
We heard over the VHF radio the attempted rescue of a yacht in the same area as us. Not sure what happened but it had capsized and they were searching with a rescue plane, which didn't seem to be finding them. Two adults and 3 children.
Then we heard a crew member had fallen off a tanker
Think we all aged that night :(

Best crew member ever

Don't think we would have survived without the windvane self-steering

The morning after

well deserved arrival drink

WE SURVIVED!!!