Sleigh ride night

Under full moon peaking out between dirty heavy and low clouds, with a bone in her teeth, Sauvage was surging at speeds over 10 knots in front of a rapidly approaching squall. It was now my turn to drive. Nobody gets a free pass, so this was my turn to show what I've learned these past days. (Now I would have been OK if John or Brian thought it too dicey for me, but that's not how this boat works!)
John said calmly "don't crash (again), and keep it between 240 to 260". My stomach announcing imitate danger, and I'm sure my heart rate was near maximum as I took the wheel. I've always felt I could do this, now it was time to prove it. As each puff surged us faster and faster a strange thing happened, I was doing what I've always dreamed about doing ... driving a boat in the trades, surfing at
unheard of speed. Sauvage has a very "light" helm which means she is very responsive. As she plunged down inky black holes in the ocean she hummed at ever increasing speeds. It takes ultimate concentration to drive that fine line between outrageous speeds and disaster. After what seemed like hours and hours of white knuckle rides, I was sure my shift was nearing the end ... John responded it was only 20 minutes into my watch. Time was very compressed. During one memorable surfing ride I managed a glance at the speedo, it red 12.8 knots ... 40 minutes to go.
(raig