Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2015 09:36:59 -0700
Subject: A wave dumped me on the first night
From: steve.h.lewis@hotmail.com

After clearing the Farallon Islands I turned West. I had the main with one reef, stays’l, and jib up. Wind was NW 10-15, waves 4 ft. As night fell, I laid down in the pilot berth and watched the chart plotter. Every so often I would get up and check the horizon and send a position report. I had the alarm set for every two hours as a reminder, but that was just a failsafe measure to ensure I that I don’t doze off too long.

Later in the night, the wind increased to 15-20 G25. Manatee was doing about 5-5.5 kn and not heeled over much. The Flemming was steering, the Australians are great! Then we started hitting some larger waves and I started thinking about reducing sail. A big wave bashed me and rolled the boat to port. The slide-out lower pilot berth slid out with the lee cloth attached to the two grab bars at each end. It pulled the grab bar with 8 small screws out and the whole pilot berth ended up on the floor. It also dumped a chart drawer and the triangular board in the v-berth. Learn from experience: make sure the lee cloths are securely fastened so you can sleep! I will bolt the grab bar back in and add a strap to limit how far the pilot berth can slide out.