When I went up for my 6-10am watch I couldn't believe my eyes. The wind was blowing with 25-30 knots and and we had these big, big waves rolling from behind, coupled with some sneaky smaller waves which were hitting us at an angle. Thomas and Henry were having the time of their lifes, trying to point the bow down the wave as soon as another swell came, trying to surf as much as they could to gain speed. The normal boat hull speed is 7.8 knots, but in these waves we got up to 10.7 knots (that's a lot!). Once you get used to the scenario it is quite enjoyable, since the large waves just roll under the boat. You just have to get used to seeing a 2-3 foot wall of water being 10 feet behing the stern and looking as if it wants to eat you alive. The tricky steering bit is not to bear away too much from the wind (because you can do an accidental jibe which can damage the rigging) but also fight the boat's tendency to head up into the wind (rounding up). You have to concentrate quite a bit and get a feeling for it, and when it was my turn I liked it after the first nervous 15 minutes and a few more violent round-ups. And then it happend: Henry took over the steering and then said that something would be wrong, that the steering did not react anymore. That is bad, big waves coming and no steering... the boat can go perpendicular to the waves, which start smashing against the hull, which can make the boat heel a lot, eventually (agreed, at worse conditions than we were in) capsizing the boat. In a panic 60 seconds we got out the emergency tiller, which is a tiny 2-foot piece of rectangular steel tube which you can set right on top of the steering column. The problem was that it has a *much* smaller leverage than the steering wheel so at times 2 of us were pushing and pulling that tube to keep the boat on course. Luckily Henry jumped down into the boat's dungeons and found out that simply the steel cable running from the wheel to the rudder post had jumped off its track and after 1/2 hour with some pliers we had the problem fixed. After another hour we saw that it held up and we started to relax. - In hindsight this was not dramatic, we worked well together and solved the problem. But at the time, when the problem happened, it was quite stressful because we did not know te extent of the damage. Henry told me later that it can happen that the rudder delaminates from the rudder post and then you have few options... we had a sea anchor with us, a small parachute which you tie up to the boat and then throw into the water, so that the boat is downwind from the anchor with the bow facing the waves, but we did not have any experience with it and it can get very uncomfortable bobbing around in the waves. It also puts a great strain on the cleats, they can break, and.... - Well, originally we intended to sail straight down to SF without any landfall but we decided to go into the next harbour to further inspect the damage, get some rest (personally I could have slept standing) and wind down from the excitement. So we headed for Crescent City at the northern California border and then decided to stay there for the night to sleep, have a hot shower, and a nice dinner.