Salvador to Maceio

Grib Files (our internet weather forecast program) predicted big swell starting on Saturday, so we left on Thursday to be ahead of the swell, well once outside the harbor we had again very strong wind, gusts and huge swell. We put 2 reefs in the mainsail as well as the inner jib reefed for the squalls. The wind were on a very tight beam and we could do max 3knots. The wind was to strong for the autopilot and we took hourly turns taking the steer through out the night. The following day the wind was more from the side and we could sail a bit faster, but bad swell and rain with gusts hampered our progress. By nightfall the wind became once again too strong, we had 3 reefs in the main sail and little or no jib out. There were a huge short confusing swell, 2 waves splashed into the saloon and one flooded the cockpit. The boat was total chaos inside with biscuits, fruit and veg, pills, books and what-have-you, flying everywhere and forming a carpet mixed with the little bit sea water! We decided to turn into Maceio to wait this weather out.