What was that!
Skye Blue sailing
Stephen and Malene
Mon 12 Jun 2023 21:56
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Day 10,
greetings all, from smellyboat. You would think a
washing machine would have a nicer scent, but unfortunately not. And the
delicates cycle seems to be broken.....
Note to self: never wish for an uneventful sail again.
Ever. Not even if it's meant as a fun remark. The uneventful event
of last night: the furling line snapped with a big bang! A big wave hit the
nose and the thing just went. Upsetting on more than one level as it was a brand
new line since Saint Lucia. And it snapped while we were just about to have
dinner. And we had less than an hour to sort it out before it got dark. And the
wind was 17 knots and at the time increasing. And it was choppy. And so on
and so on.... Guess things don't happen so often on nice sedate days
:D
Getting the jib down was necessary as it a very big sail
(overlapping the main) and we now had no way of minimizing the sail area
and we usually have squalls all through the night. It is not a two man job but
two can do it if they want it enough ;D;D so we got it down actually very
uneventfully. Auto-helm did a grand job! First sail we got out was the
stormsail. It is a wee bit small but at that time we just needed to hank
something on so we have sailed through the night on that and 3 reefs in the
main.... If you have noticed we were going markedly slower, there is you
explanation :D Actually fun for a bit to have an sail you can literally
manhandle even in a F4-5.
And the weirdest thing was the big black dolphin that
came up right after it happened. It went right up to the nose of the boat and
did the most spectacular twist jump splash we have ever seen! As if it was
saying: "you call that a bang!?! Look at this one then!" We were both glad the
other had seen it because it was surreal. Would have otherwise probably put it
down on the sleep depravation seeing and hearing weird things
list.
This morning changed to the staysail and now we are
going nicely - or nicer - through the confused swell. It needs a bit of power.
And can't shake out the reef in the main before it is dry as we seemingly have a
very hungry 3rd reef: if had been feeling peckish during the night and had a
good chew at the main! Even though we had been very careful to tuck away any
bits of sail that could get caught under it. Things just have a life of their
own on the ocean ;D And we have several rolls of sail repair tape.
All is well and the chicken sancocho soup last night
after the foredeck action was done, was bliss!
1:50.6768N 93:00.6774W
PS. No comments on the fashion choices for foredeck
jobs, thank you.
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