Bro-Sis Upwind Bonding

This somehow looks less scary when your big briother is standing next to you.

It’s said that what goes up must come down, so after nearly a week of clear skies and light winds, I wasn’t surprised to see towering thunderheads and swirling wind gusts on the morning we prepped Swell to leave Bora Bora. Schedules pending, we had no choice but to batten down the hatches and go for it. As we rounded the corner of the reef, it didn’t look so bad…but no sooner than I had unfurled the entire headsail did the first gust press down upon us. We quickly reefed in the sail and proceeded to bash our way upwind all day, tacking back and forth to evade the dark squalls that tried to close in all around us.

There was a break just long enough for me to make some pasta, but when I came up, I saw the frothy whitecaps all around and darkness looming up ahead. We inhaled our bowls of fusilli and braced for the next few hours of miserable bouncing, rain, and frightening dark clouds all around. James never left my side. Nothing like a little adversity at sea to facilitate brother-sister bonding!!