Blog 7 – Monday 3^rd December

Drama on the High Seas

Well what a morning. It was a lovely sunny start and Becci and I were considering getting a bucket out and doing a bit of washing then it all went rapidly down hill. With a bang the spinnaker pole broke. As Mark and James made a grab for the pole and detached it before it beheaded someone, the jib decided it liked its new found freedom and would use the opportunity to furl itself around the forestay. It tried every direction and got itself pretty tied up in knots. It took all three boys at the front, the girls at the cockpit and running backwards and forwards the forward hatch to sort that one out. Then just as we were all congratulating ourselves on a job well done, Mark noticed some serious fraying of the diagonal rigging between the first and second spreaders on the port side.

Out came the Bosun’s chair and James was hoisted up to sort that out. We were still doing 7 knots so all credit to him; James made a brave move going up there. The fraying steelwork was removed and replaced with a temporary rig using Dyneema rope. It’s holding so we are pushing along but without the jib in order to reduce the load on the rigging a bit. We’re all keeping a close eye on everything just to be on the safe side.

Now things have calmed down James has decided on another first. He is going to do some washing! We’ve got the bucket out and the cold water washing power. He’s already managed to soak himself while hauling in the water but at least his white t-shirts are now soaking and should be gleaming by the end of the day.

Keeping our fingers crossed for a quiet afternoon and night.

Justine