Wild waves and good wind

Sail out of Oceanside, 3/10/2013, with Kevin. Winds about 8 knots as we raised the sail in the basin and headed out. I filled the balast while in the basin so we could carry full sail and not reef as the wind was expected to fill in with gusts over 15. The wave action was "interesting". Swells from one direction and wind waves from a different one. Made the water a little like a washing machine! Going down the swell I would have to fight to keep course. The winds did fill in felt like over 20?, and were good. If the water was not so choppy, it would have been a great sail. Still, good experience in choppy water. I did discover that I really do not like this kind of chop. Had a few missed tacks where I ended up in irons. I was not keeping the tiller over long enough to make the tack. Fixed that with Kevin's help and all was well. Top speed 7 knots and a little over 9 Nmiles travelled.