I think I posted this before somewhere,
Leaving late in the fall afternoon for Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands CA, I expected a brisk transit with forecast small craft warnings and wind out of the NW, a favorable direction for a rumbline course to the east end.
Singlehanding my Hardin 45 is second nature, all controls lead to the cockpit, and I had a dependable autopilot.
3 hours into the 18 mile trip, the winds shifted to the W and picked up to 45kts and seas built to 15', now I'm going straight into it. I turned on the motor, rolled the mainsail, brought in the jib, put out the staysail and reefed the mizzen. No choice but to plow to weather or tack and head for Catalina, I chose the former. The winds picked up to 50kts.
3 miles west of the west end of Anacapa 2 miles from my destination, my knot meter read three kts, the plotting GPS showed I was moving backwards towards the Anacapa reef. Time to tack and head downwind. Autopilot off, wheel control on.......no response. Autopilot back on, 110 degrees to port .....no response. No helm control, and the rudder must have turned some, as I was now being blown towards the reef 3 miles away at 7 kts drift.
A call to the CG told me they were 1 hour away. Vessel Assit was 4 hours. I would be on the reef in 1/2 hour. I declined any assistance and set up a radio schedule with the CG.
With the calm that comes with certain disaster, I recalled an article in some sailing magazine where the same thing happened to cruiser, and he had used the mizzen as a steering vane and had steered clear of some obstruction. Kicking out the reef and letting out, the boat did an immediate 160 clear of the island and speed picked up to 12 kts. Balancing the two sails, I was on a compass heading for the harbor 15 miles away where vessel assist met me and towed me to my slip.