Bahamas - Day 2 - Sail Disaster!

Seaduced
John & Jane Craven
Fri 7 Dec 2012 20:12
Not long after I wrote the last blog - I thought things were going all to well, we heard a loud bang as we sailed along. A very quick look round showed that the mainsail had blown out at the clew. This was quite a serious issue as there was nothing holding the end of the sail and it was just flogging in the wind. The first thing we had to do was try and furl the sail away. We brought the boat head to wind and furled carefully to ensure it went in to the mast as tightly as possible. Once the sails was safely tucked away, we had to lash the end of it to stop it from flogging like mad. Once that was done, we then had to decide what to do next. Our original plan was to arrive at Cat Island, a very small place with few facilities, however what we needed now was a sailmaker and a fuel dock. Having no main sail would mean we had to motor all the way to the Bahamas unless we had a downwind sail - highly unlikely looking at the forecast, and then we would need to top up the fuel tanks, or be very short until we got to Puerto Rico in about a months time.
Some research in our cruising guides confirmed what we already knew - there are no sail makers in the Exumas at all, the only one being in Nassau, the one place we really didn't want to go. Nassau is cruise ship central in the Bahamas and exactly the type of place we wanted to avoid, however needs must.
We decided to call ahead the next day (Friday) and see if we could arrange a fix and a dock for a few nights.
Meanwhile the rough seas we were experiencing were getting worse - we had waves about 10-12 feet high and were crashing through them. The seas were very confused giving a corkscrew effect which is guaranteed to affect the strongest of stomachs - this turned out to to be the first day of the Bahamas bikini diet - better late than never! It was awful! Never mind, we survived and sustained little boat damage - only a missing slat from one of the front dolphin watching seats which had washed down the deck and ended up at the stern - another job for when we get in!
The weather is due to calm and settle down tomorrow - here's hoping!

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