Sometimes ya just gotta do it!
Last week we got caught in a monster rain and lightning storm. Out here in the west it is very easy to be in a canyon that allows no view of the weather approaching. We listened to Norm on the VHF and he said to expect thunderstorms in the late afternoon. This storm was a 9:30 am and we were 1 to 1 1/2 mile from any shore. With a 40' lightning rod on top, we dropped sail and hauled ass up wind towards the closest shore. It was an excersize in vain. 7 knots upwind, 35 knots back. It's not often you can reach max hull speed in reverse. In the end had I gone down wind we would have been probably just as safe, but the boat would been launched over the border into Canada or possibily over the polar ice cap into Russia. The resulting melting of the ice cap by the friction of my fingernails would have destroyed our governments position on global warming. Ray
