This storm was the first time I've been rounded up on a catamaran.

We felt the temperature drop too and I knew we were in trouble. We didn't get the kite down in time and capsized when the wind hit. We were a bit optimistic in our hopes that we could outrun the storm. However, I must say that I was felt much more comfortable in this storm than the one that beached us on Lake Travis in January. The nice thing about sailing in the gulf is that there aren't so many hard things to hit and you have time to think as you are being pushed along with the boat on the side. At least the storm was pushing us in the right direction.

So after the first capsize, we righted the boat and tried to head down. Talk about pucker factor. I was at the back beam holding on to the hiking straps and Drew was doing his best to get up some speed before turning down. During the first turn down, the main was traveled down and we were sheeted out (big mistake) and when the first gust hit us the rudders came out of the water and we were rounded right back up to head to wind. On the second attempt to turn down we did the same thing again except we did the most perfect pitch pole I've ever seen. We were going fast, still sheeted out and traveled down, and a gust hit us. I don't think the bows really stuffed, the stern just lifted up went over our heads. Both of us were sitting on the back beam when this happened. After this capsize, we stayed down and rode the storm towards the finish line on the capsized boat while we considered our options. It seemed to calm down a bit after about 30 minutes and we righted the boat and got back on (which is really easy in the big waves if you time it right). This time when we turned down, we centered the traveler and sheeted the main in hard. With the leach of the main facing into the wind to depower, we found that we could handle the 25 to 30kts without difficulty. If we had only had the presence of mind to think of this on the first turn down we would have done much better on this leg.

I'm thankful that no one was lost or seriously hurt. I'm thinking that next time we need some longer safety lines and that we should actually wear them. I'm just glad we were on such a well built boat and we made it through with only a broken batten.