Do you know when it’s time to quit?

When we think of cruising, we often conjure up images of remote idylls set among turquoise seas and white-sand desert islands. A bit like the nameless atoll where we found ourselves anchored in eastern Sulawesi.

Idyllic stormy sunset

Our route out of the atoll was simple: head east in 15m of water through the channel, and then turn to starboard to head south into the Molucca Sea where the water drops to 4000m.

What should we do?

From our earlier forecast, we knew the weather would be squally. But conditions quickly worsened.

The wind angle was too tight to sail in the direction we needed to take, and we struggled to prevent the sails from backing.

sideways and uphill

Bearing away to sail would have taken us towards the next atoll, where it was too deep to anchor outside and too shallow to enter. Tacking eastwards would have put us on a lee shore with those building waves coming at us.

Storm clouds looming ahead

rolling storm clouds at anchor

Thinking that perhaps we could motor sail for an hour or so to clear the hazards, we continued to slog south.

As the waves built to more than 3m and wind speeds got above 40kts, our engine rattled along trying to climb the onslaught.

We decided to tack, turned off the engine and sailed westwards…

For the full scoop, watch episode 331 on YouTube…