Storm sailing, injuries, and running from PIRATES! Our SCARIEST EVER SAIL.

Bryony here... I'm not even sure what to write! We always knew that if we sail long enough and far enough, eventually we'd be badly caught out with incorrect weather forecasting, equipment failures, and a little human error in the mix. This was that time. Exiting the Gibraltar Straits was terrifying, we are still not 100% sure how we managed to crash jibe (we presumed but don't recall heavily broaching when it happened, unless it was all just a massive gust of wind from a different direction - or the genoa sheet was the first thing to break and with that we suddenly shifted our angle to the wind?), and injured crew is never good!

As for the pirates... we will never know for sure, but honestly we were already exhausted, broken (I actually injured my back somehow in the chaos of the Straits and wasn't sleeping well with the pain), and kinda just... panicked! But when you are warned about pirates whilst you're in the area and three vessels suddenly seem to be converging ahead of you in the dark, the adrenaline gets going.

We survived. We learned. And it was reassuring knowing how much the boat could handle, even when things were going wrong, and keep going on course.