than 600 miles in four days. In the run-up
to the incident, the Pacifi c Windpilot had
been steering on a wind angle of around
165°, with a small amount of headsail
unfurled. This gave us a speed of 6.5-7
knots, enough for accurate steering, but
not for Zest to surf quickly down the face
of the waves.
It felt safe and relaxed compared with
the big winds we’d experienced on
downwind legs on some of the races we’d
completed when we’d been pushing hard.
The waves had been driven for several
days by an east-north-easterly airfl ow that
slowly built to a mean speed of more than
40 knots at times. We estimated signifi cant
Sickening sound
Our conversation was interrupted by the
disconcerting roar of what sounded like a
huge breaking wave coming roughly from
amidships on the port side. It was totally
unlike the rest of the wavetrain and hit
Zest with a massive thud. A big lurch to
leeward was instantly followed by the
sickening noise of timber being torn apart.
Then the lights went out.
In the immediate aftermath of structural
failure the extent of the damage is not
always obvious. It certainly fl ashed
through both our minds that we might
need to rush for the liferaft, grabbing the
EPIRB on the way. But the saloon wasn’t
immediately engulfed with water, and it
wasn’t cascading in from overhead.
I asked Kass to pass me a torch. On
examining the area where the port
chainplate had been only moments
earlier, I reported: “There’s a f***ing big
hole in the boat.”
She told me not to be melodramatic.wave height of around 3.5m, but the
crests were well spaced out and not
breaking, so each one would pass quietly
underneath Zest.
Had a breaking wave caught us beam
on, in theory it might have been large
enough to capsize a boat of Zest’s beam.
However, by presenting the stern to the
waves and keeping the speed low enough
to avoid a risk of pitchpoling, we felt safe
and secure, reassured that others had
survived far more challenging conditions
in a similar manner.
At the time of the incident we were both
below deck, sitting on the lee settee and
talking about the forecast, waiting for
dinner to fi nish cooking. The wind was
forecast to moderate to only 10-15 knots
at dawn, before picking up again after a
24-hour breather. All we had to do was
route safely to the west of a couple of
small, but intense, low pressure systems
off the Portuguese coast to hook into a
clear run to Lanzarote.‘A big lurch to leeward was instantly
followed by the sickening noise of timber
being torn apart. Then the lights went out’
Zest is a 36ft custom design by
Rob Humphreys in which Rupert
Holmes and Kass Schmitt have
sailed short-handed more than
18,000 miles since 2013Zest sailing in calmer times
with owner Kass Schmitt at
the helmPhotos: Rupert HolmesPractical Boat Owner • http://www.pbo.co.uk 55
FREAK ENCOUNTER