You have
to be very careful that you have your next handhold before you let go of
your last.

I've been being conservative, so the last 36 hours or so has been 3 reefs
and staysail. The boat is not powerful, but is so easily driven, that we've
been losing bit by bit, rather than chunk by chunk.

One great thing is our windcharger. I haven't run the engine in 3 days
because the little unit in these conditions generates enough to run the
whole boat, plus top off the batteries to 100%. The cabin is cooler, and
it's monumentally quieter, so three cheers for windpower. There's no
significant drag, compared to normal windage on the boat. We do put
reflective tape on the blade tips so that at night you don't get any where
near them, seemingly doing a billion rpms.

Had a bit of a fracas yesterday afternoon as the staysail sheet parted,
fortuitously, just before dark. Bore off, and rolled the sail up as fast as
possible in high gear on the pedestal. Was able to get the good windward
one around and re-set, and then put two stronger ones in place. Hopefully
didn't do any significant damage to the sail in the few minutes of violent
flogging while I rolled it in.

Our mid-deck hatch leaks in these conditions, and so have had some use of
the bilge pump system there, both electrical and manual, as if I needed the
extra exercise!