Position 1100 UTC
22 43N
36 01W
MINNIE GOES TROPICAL!
Earlier this morning we passed the Tropic of Cancer into the tropics. Phew!
It certainly is hot down here.
Yesterday a large private motor yacht passed by heading west. I guess he is
on his way to somewhere nice after a summer in the Med.
Last night was very tricky, very black with no stars but our required
heading was great for the jibtop and we averaged about 10 knots. We had a
minor drama followed by a major drama. First our mainsail leech started
fluttering. We pulled the main into the boat to adjust the leech line but it
would not work. Later the whole leechline dropped out of the main. Although
a fluttering leech can fatigue and rip the sail along the leech we are
hoping this will not happen as we are well off the breeze. Our major drame
happened just after the watch change at 4 am. There was a little bang and
the main started fluttering. We tracked the problem to the kicker - the main
shackle had sheared. Without an operational kicker the main will flog itself
to death against the spreaders. The crew were magnificent. We could not
simply replace the shackle as the broken unit was jammed in the fitting so
we made up a strop, lashed the boom down with a jury rig and were able to
attach the kicker to the strop.
So far our equipment failure is wind instruments, leech line and a shackle.
I hope that is as bad as it gets.
We have another 24 hours as we are, beam reaching with the jib top, to skirt
and duck under an area of very light winds. We will have about 30 hours of
light winds and then it is the final dash for St Lucia.
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