Back in the BVI

Pelekan
Tom & Jos Hollway
Tue 7 Feb 2012 11:27
18:20N 64:24W

We left Antigua with a sad heart at the weekend. So many lovely new friends and all round a good stay. Tom and I were both excited about a 200 mile down wind sail! I almost did NOT take my travel pills- but wisely changed my mind.
It all started well, good winds and lovely views of Antigua as we cruised west along the south coast. Once we were in open sea there was a significant Atlantic swell with that familiar churning effect which makes "normal" everyday tasks difficult.......

At dusk a nasty squall ( Tom called it a shower) came our way. We took in the genoa, rather incompetently on my part. Tom eased the active sheet, leaving me to wind in the sail, using the lazy sheets' winch ( which is electric). Of course by now the wind was over 28 knots, and I only have 2 hands. Short of putting the lazy sheet between my teeth thus rendering myself edentulous I had to abandon it, but of course the flapping sail ripped it out to it's full length and the two sheets wrapped themselves into a rather pretty but loopy tangle. Thankfully the sail was furled. We resigned ourselves to a motor sail for the night.

At around 02.00 Tom noticed the steaming light THROUGH the mainsail. It has been looking rather "baggy" for the last few months and feeling its 21,000 miles, but chose this moment to tear! We furled it half in, to include the tear, but by dawn a smaller rip was visible in the remaining section so we had no mainsail either.

Happily after dawn Tom was able to untangle the gib sheets with the help of the boat hook without any difficulty and we continued on our way. In the end it was only a 27 hour journey, no injuries, just the potential for several boat units of repairs/ replacements.

The joy of boat ownership.

Tom and I are due to leave these warm climes for freezing Europe in a couple of days.
Jos and Tom