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Randall Reeves leaves the storm jib in its bag while braving the Southern Ocean to prove that speed is safety when storm sailing
Randall Reeves 45ft heavy displacement expedition sloop Moli with a bone in her teeth in the southern Indian Ocean. Credit: Randall Reeves
Storm sailing lessons learned
The first major blow of my first Figure 8 Voyage attempt – a solo circumnavigation of both the American and Antarctic continents in one season – stated the difficulties of storm sailing well enough, but I missed the clues.
It was December 17, 2017. My 45ft heavy displacement expedition sloop
Moli (
Mo) and I were 49 days out of San Francisco, crossing 52º south and on final approach to Cape Horn, when we were overtaken by an intense low packing steady winds to 50 knots and gusts to 70.