Similar to Nebe in my youth I was part of a crew on a 52 foot racing sloop coming home from the southern circuit to NY, caught outside Haterous in what was the remnants of a downgraded hurricane in September. Rain so hard it hurt, waves that swallowed the boat between the troughs, 2 men on for 2 hours max....all you could physically take. Not that going below was much of a rest, never heaved, but it was impossible to sleep.
Middle of the night and while on watch, the small storm jib stay breaks. My mate and I called up a second set of crew, so we could go forward and haul it in, making sure our life lines were clipped in as we went. Remember sitting on the deck and watching this f***king huge wave cresting as we get to it (taller than our boat was long), then watching the ocean disappear as we are lifed high into the air. I remember falling somewhat slower than the boat saying Hail Mary's on the way down, followed by a wall of water burying us as we plowed through that wave. If we weren't clipped in with life lines, I'd not be typing this.
Flew back to Ft. Lauderdale after that trip, to join a crew delivering a 42 foot catch to San Fran. On that trip we had one hell of a ride in a storm off Costa Rica with 30 footers, but nothing to compare with the monsters we road of Hatterous the previous trip.
I still love the E ticket rides
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