On 08 May 2021 at 00:59 "karkauai via groups.io" <karkauai@...> wrote:

A few years ago I was sailing N in the Gulf Stream in 20kts from astern.  In the middle of the night with no warning (it was a moonless night with no lightning observed) we were suddenly in 35+ kts from 40d off the starboard stern.  The seas rapidly grew from 5-6 ft to 8-10 ft.  I turned directly downwind and furled the headsails together to about 10%.  But before I could muster the crew and get the poles down, we rolled and caught the tip of the port pole in the water.  It shattered the forward guy block, and the pole came whipping back alongside the dodger. No damage there, but potentially an even worse problem than we had.

The problem was a thunder storm that must have formed right over us, or just didn't have any lightning.  That was before I got my new Radar, and I didn't use it at night unless I saw a specific need.

So now I take the poles down at night, and run the radar at night.  In any choppy seas over 4-5 ft, I raise the end of the poles a couple of feet above horizontal.

Kent

SM 243 Kristy

Preparing to sail to Maine in early June

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Kent & Iris

KRISTY

SM243