Not Funny!
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Sun 13 Dec 2009 13:31
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We are now anchored off a beach in Barbuda which
literally stretches into the horizon in each direction. Our position is 17:36.9N
061:51.3W. We can see two other boats which we share this (11mile long)
anchorage with. They are both catamarans. That is not surprising as Barbuda is
surrounded by reefs andis so low lying you are generally well inside the reefs
before you can actually see the island. Barbuda is known for its pink sand
beaches and also its wild horses and donkeys which roam freely around the island
and can ofter be seen along the beach.
Our sail yesterday was excellent. We set off from
Green island the hard way, and picked our way by eyeball through the
reefs for a couple of miles. It is an odd sensation motoring through a
narrow channel identified only by its colour and the depth guage (which is in
practice an historical account of the depth you are travelling through!) and
with rolling breakers to one side and coral reef on the other side that you
could step off onto! Sounds a bit like a metaphor for my life! As soon as
we were out up with the sails in 18 knots easterly for a perfect beam reach. Off
we go upto 9.5knots with the wind at 100deg. 20 knots at the same angle brings
us over 10 knots but with a fairly heavy sea running required reefing
bringing us back to 9.5. We stonked up to Barbuda following a course which
would allow us to bear away from the wind by 10 or 15 degrees which we did. This
gave a nice comfortable 10 knots with 20 knots at 120Deg TWA. Now wouldn't that
have been nice to have had some of in the
Atlantic!
Arriving in Barbuda on the East coast in 20 knots
of wind we furled away the genoa and put out the jib for a little while to help
drive us back upwind to the shore. When we arrived at the point where we wanted
to prepare to anchor - away with the jib, and sailing with just the main, at
about 4 knots into 20 knots of wind to feel our way up to the anchorage
(the electronic charts are well out - we were on the beach according to them at
this time!) we started to furl away the main as normal leaving some
wind to the starboard side to help furl it and creating a "bag" in the sail by
slackening off the out haul. Anyway just when it was almost all away there
came an almighty bang followed by clattering and flaying outhaul and clew
and the full main running uncontrollably out of the mast! I wont bore you with
the details but suffice to say that in shallow water with 20 knots of wind and
an uncontrolable wildly flapping main which now needed to be extracted from the
mast. Not an easy job when the furling shaft inside the mast has sheared in two
and is now jammed. You are then caught in a situation where you are constantly
trying to allow enough slack in the main sheet to prevent the boat sailing out
the anchor (which of course we had dropped by now) and sailing right up the
beach, and the boom thrashing the gooseneck to death. Firstly I hear the
traditionalists say "ah you dont get these problems with slab reefing" True. You
just get other issues on which we originally considered and made a call on.
Those of you who are not in the "I told you so " brigade will spare a thought
for Craig and I who along with Brent who had never been sailing before
had to try to extract the main and wrestle it to the deck in 20 knots.
Unfortunately none of us are over weight and two could be considered to be under
weight. You may also notice a distinct lack of humour in todays blog.
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