Bang in the night
Persevere
Pat and Bruce
Tue 29 Nov 2011 17:17
29 Nov
Winds and waves were at there usually cadence but in the dark squall must have been near and the winds rose quickly. Boat speed immediately went from 7.5 to 10 knots. The genoa was reefed but the boom gybed (swung to the other side) breaking the preventer block that was holding it from doing that.
Everyone was on deck in the dark and we got the boom under control, reefed and re-secured with a new preventer. As I have learned in the past fix what can be fixed to make things secure and safe and wait till morning to actually see what damage may have occurred.
So at morning light we found the separated snatch block which was used in the preventer system. Obviously undersized for duty in hindsight. When it failed it bent one lifeline stanstion not a big issue.
The rivets that hold the mainsheet blocks to the boom suffer the loss of one, not too bad and it is still supported in the boom track. All other rigging was checked and nothing is amiss. So we reset the sails with the main only set at half way to reduce load on the rivets and the boom vang which also has a crack in it's support unrelated to last night. Spare strong blocks have been installed for the preventer along with Spectra line.
Boat speed is fine now with the same weather we have had over the last three days.
We had our half way meal at lunch today ( not really half way but that is how the menus were set two weeks ago). Nice pork roast with baked apples, potatoes and kale.
So with 1327 miles completed we have about 1494 to go. Last noon to noon distance was 152 NM hampered by the slow nighttime progress after the gybe.
Kind regards