Equipment problems
Anastasia
Phil May and Andrea Twigg
Sun 3 Jun 2012 05:59
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We had some problems with equipment on the way down
to Tonga.
For the last day of the trip down to Niue we had
good winds of around 25 knots on the beam (from the side of the boat) and that
is a wind direction that suits Anastasia. We had full mainsail and
gennaker and were cruising along at about 10 knots when a gust of wind blew
a hole in the middle of the gennaker. That meant we had to finish the leg
with our blade jib, which is not really the right sail for a beam
reach.
In addition to this the screen of the chart plotter
by the helm station went gradually dimmer until finally it was completely
blank. We have a plotter in the cabin but it is inconvenient to have
to have someone calling out where the reefs are. We may not be able to get
the plotter fixed until Australia.
We had some good wind on the leg from Niue to
Tonga. This time it was behind the beam, a broad reach, so we could use
the asymmetric spinnaker. Unfortunately the wind gradually came around
until it was on the beam. We would have switched to the gennaker if
it hadn't got a big hole in it, so instead we had to pull the spinnaker in tight
to keep using it. A gust of wind came along and the top ripped
off the spinnaker. Back to the blade jib
again.
Now we don't have much in the way of downwind sails
left. We have two parasailors, so we can go dead downwind, and we have
the blade jib so we can go upwind. The trip to Fiji (and on to
Australia if we can't get the sails repaired) might just end up being a series
of big zigzags as we switch between downwind and crosswind to make use of the
two headsails we have left.
I have ordered some new sails from a sailmaker in
Australia.
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