The Henrys at Sea

Waves as high as telephone poles. Tossing our forty-one foot sloop TAIS around like a kid riding a surfboard. These waves were the result of a week of 35-45 knot winds out of the north (of Madeira) unencumbered by any land for a few thousand miles.

Madeira sits about four hundred miles out in the Atlantic off the coast of Spain. With waves scary big, we wondered, should we venture out of the protected breakwater? We had been waiting a week for the winds to subside. Time was running short. We had to be in Gran Canarie (Canary Islands) for the start of the first trans-Atlantic race for cruisers. The Canary Islands were a two-day sail to the south. We had to be there. We voted, Yes, let's go