Yep we did it again ,we broke something. This time we’re hoisting a Yankee think it was the 3. Sometimes you think it’s the downhaul(only present for the Y3) causing difficulty. So instead of thinking why is it difficult, we put 4 beefy guys on the geinders. So I recall being 4th to the grinders and hearing this almighty bang and see the mainsail coming down. My heart sinks through my stomach into my boots. We have worked so hard to vlaw our way back up the fleet and now we are going to be slowing down ,yet again.I think more problems occur when there are more on deck. This was around watch change and there were 11 on deck. Noone recognized what was happening,none including the skipper ,aqp and both watch leaders. Someone has to be stepping back. Too much noise too much haste. The aft grinder was engaged on both the yankee halyard and the mainsheet. That’s why it was difficult. As the pressure on the boom and sail increased and inthis case the halyard snapped and down came the mainsail. Also as we discovered later in port the metal plate on the mainsheet winch was so bent it had to be replaced. The whole crew broke the main halyard.
We send Mary up the mast to drop a weight attached to a string so we can thread a new halyard.Once that’s done we flake the yankee 1 and yankee 2 which for some reason are not organised then finally hoist the yankee 3.
And now we are finally surfing under white sails ,On the helm I crank out
3 x 20 knots plus surfs in quick succession. Yes this what we came for 28 to 40 knot winds and big seas . Let’s catch the fleet again.
ongoing surfing conditions with the low pushing us ,25 to 40knots ,6 metre seas ,mutiple surfs at over 20 knots ,avg speeds 12 to 13 this morning .Mike said we’ll gybe after this black cloud paases then.
The winds drops and …
It snowed.
It’s watch change.
The rest of my watch dissappear rapidly below.
I help with the gybe… in the snow!
A week must have gone by , now am on mother watch again ,this time pesto pasta bewad and some beef thing for dinner.
Amazing stuff …… all of it ! Love hearing all your adventures Rick , stay safe