Sailing Sweet Ruca · video

What this video covers

Sweet Ruca, a performance cruiser, departs Chile for a 4,000-mile passage to French Polynesia, targeting a route toward the Gambier Islands.0:18 The crew, Kate and Curtis, use an expedition navigation computer with iSailor and C-MAP charts to plan a northern trajectory, avoiding southern storm systems and colder water.0:45 During the first five days, the boat encounters 18 to 30 knots of wind and a confused sea state, requiring a third reef in the mainsail to stabilize the vessel for the autopilot.8:24 When a spinnaker sock jams, the crew drops the sail by blowing the tack and sheet to collapse the spinnaker manually before untangling the internal lines.11:28 By day five, the crew transitions to a wing-on-wing configuration with a whisker pole to sail dead downwind in 15 knots of breeze.18:35 The passage involves managing energy-intensive tasks like meal preparation in rough conditions and addressing equipment failures that complicate double-handed sailing.6:08

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