Voyage to Sicily sailing OFFSHORE in heavy sea overnight from Sardinia

#sailing OFFSHORE though heavy sea in 40 knot gusts downwind tests crew and sailboat. Skipper keeps going without sleep. New crew member is ill and can't help. Preparations are done and the outcome is thankfully good. How long will the crossing take? Sheenagh rises to the challenge but sadly Elizabeth misses nearly all the action sailing 180 nautical miles from Cagliari, Sardinia to Trapani, Sicily. Elizabeth flew in from Yorkshire, but unfortunately was starting to suffer from a cold and I hadn't appreciated how bad she suffers from sea sickness! Although Sheenagh was so apprehensive about the OFFSHORE passage, she looked after us well and despite being ill a couple of times while changing down below to go on/off watch, she battled on and checked I was OK during my watch. My passage plan was based on an average speed over the ground of 5 knots, which was achieved, but with nearly 14 hours motor sailing using about 21 litres of diesel. During the 34 hours of piloting and sailing I managed to get about 4hrs sleep and Sheenagh just a few more. With relatively inexperienced crew for offshore sailing, the main sail came down in the high winds, favouring the furling headsail for safety. We had three people to share the watch, but only two were fit. The autohelm struggled to keep the boat in the right direction due to a big swell astern and the boat occasionally surfed down waves, skewing to port or starboard, so skipper had to stay on the helm until the wind abated. Acknowledgments and links: #sailing #mediterranean #sardinia S3 Ep14: Surrounding Italy - Voyage to Sicily - 60 Acknowledgments and links: Sardinia: https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/en Caralis: https://www.roamintheempire.com/index.php/2020/02/26/caralis-part-i/ History of Sardinia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sardinia Cagliari Marina di Sant'Elmo: https://www.marinasantelmo.it/ OneSails Sardinia: https://www.onesails.com/de/loft_area/mediterranean/italy/sardinia/ Trapani Marina: http://www.marinastabile.com/en/home/location.html Ligurian Sea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligurian_Sea Tyrrhenian Sea: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrrhenian_Sea Ancient City: https://www.sardegnaturismo.it/en/explore/ancient-city-nora Teulada Marina: https://marinedi.com/en/marina-di-teulada MrAlex Tech: www.youtube.com/@MrAlexTech Navionics: https://www.navionics.com/gbr/apps/navionics-boating Navily: https://www.navily.com/ #sailingadventures