We left from Newport Shipyard around 10:30 en route to Annapolis, MD to get the yacht ready for the East Coast IRC Championships. Interim captain Chris Branning and I go over the details of the trip. We thought about going into the Delaware River then through the C&D Canal but declined because neither of us has ever navigated these waters.
The plan was to go 'outside' join into the Chesapeake Bay and go north to Annapolis. Branning and I have the most experience offshore, we took opposite watches to ensure the safety of the crew and yacht. All is well and we are getting settled into our watch system.
Its not that far of a delivery, I think we made it about 550nm. The wind was coming out of the SSW and clocking to the left. Wind had varied a little but was blowing 15 to 25 knots. The wind was forcasted to blow 20 to 25 Thursday night and into Friday morning. Branning and I made the call to double reef the old racing main. All hands on deck and the double reef was in and cleaned up in about fifteen minutes. We pressed on through the night and did not get the breeze that was forcasted. Easy sailing in three foot waves.
I start my day watch at 0600 and notice the waves on wind have picked up. It was not blowing around 20 knots and the waves maxed out around six feet. I am talking to Branning about what was going on during their watch and getting a prediction from him for the next few hours.
"Looks like a squall is coming and will be here in fifteen minutes." says Branning
"Thanks, I have the helm you can go down below any time." I respond
I was telling my watch partner about the synopsis and what we are going to do when it hits us. A very large and dark cloud is looming just in front of us now. When the squall hits the rain is almost sideways and is stinging my eyes and face. With a double reef and a number four jib I am way over powered. We reach off about ten degrees and are fighting the sea to get through it. I had no idea how long it was going to last for, luckily the squall was over in about twenty minutes.
The damage had been done. One of our sail ties had broken in the melay and the main has about ten gallons of water in it. I had told the nipper to go over and push the water out of the main. He came up with some lame ass excuse for not wanting to man up. Complaining about getting wet or something. I gave the helm to Sally and went to fix the sitcho. When I pushed my fist into the main lifting it a few feet the water ran on the inside of my fowl weather gear soaking everything that was dry.
This was not very effective because one of the sail ties had broke and the only was to get all the water out was to climb out onto the boom and try and lift the remaining water up and out. I grabbed a sail tie and climbed out. I reach down and grab for the reef point and try hard to pull up and in. It work with little success and thought if I were to go out a bit farther and repeat it would work better. It did, lucky me, and it was hard to fight the pressure of the wind and the lift of the water. I was getting ready to put the tie on when all of the sudden the bow sticks into a wave. I am facing aft and my left shoulder goes tearing through the main. Crap!
"All hands on deck." I warn.
I go down to get the main halyard and let Branning know he is needed. We get the sail down and tie her to the boom. Cant really use sticky back to fix this one... We were about 150 miles offshore at this point but were able to use our jib to reach into the mouth of the Chesapeake. From there we had to navigate at night to Annapolis. There were a few vessels that came on us quick but we got out of the way. It was nice to get into Annapolis and get to Pusser's for a beer.
The plan was to go 'outside' join into the Chesapeake Bay and go north to Annapolis. Branning and I have the most experience offshore, we took opposite watches to ensure the safety of the crew and yacht. All is well and we are getting settled into our watch system.
Its not that far of a delivery, I think we made it about 550nm. The wind was coming out of the SSW and clocking to the left. Wind had varied a little but was blowing 15 to 25 knots. The wind was forcasted to blow 20 to 25 Thursday night and into Friday morning. Branning and I made the call to double reef the old racing main. All hands on deck and the double reef was in and cleaned up in about fifteen minutes. We pressed on through the night and did not get the breeze that was forcasted. Easy sailing in three foot waves.
I start my day watch at 0600 and notice the waves on wind have picked up. It was not blowing around 20 knots and the waves maxed out around six feet. I am talking to Branning about what was going on during their watch and getting a prediction from him for the next few hours.
"Looks like a squall is coming and will be here in fifteen minutes." says Branning
"Thanks, I have the helm you can go down below any time." I respond
I was telling my watch partner about the synopsis and what we are going to do when it hits us. A very large and dark cloud is looming just in front of us now. When the squall hits the rain is almost sideways and is stinging my eyes and face. With a double reef and a number four jib I am way over powered. We reach off about ten degrees and are fighting the sea to get through it. I had no idea how long it was going to last for, luckily the squall was over in about twenty minutes.
The damage had been done. One of our sail ties had broken in the melay and the main has about ten gallons of water in it. I had told the nipper to go over and push the water out of the main. He came up with some lame ass excuse for not wanting to man up. Complaining about getting wet or something. I gave the helm to Sally and went to fix the sitcho. When I pushed my fist into the main lifting it a few feet the water ran on the inside of my fowl weather gear soaking everything that was dry.
This was not very effective because one of the sail ties had broke and the only was to get all the water out was to climb out onto the boom and try and lift the remaining water up and out. I grabbed a sail tie and climbed out. I reach down and grab for the reef point and try hard to pull up and in. It work with little success and thought if I were to go out a bit farther and repeat it would work better. It did, lucky me, and it was hard to fight the pressure of the wind and the lift of the water. I was getting ready to put the tie on when all of the sudden the bow sticks into a wave. I am facing aft and my left shoulder goes tearing through the main. Crap!
"All hands on deck." I warn.
I go down to get the main halyard and let Branning know he is needed. We get the sail down and tie her to the boom. Cant really use sticky back to fix this one... We were about 150 miles offshore at this point but were able to use our jib to reach into the mouth of the Chesapeake. From there we had to navigate at night to Annapolis. There were a few vessels that came on us quick but we got out of the way. It was nice to get into Annapolis and get to Pusser's for a beer.
No comments:
Post a Comment