I have in the past, been forever plagued with the malady of having to learn everything the hard way, in that all too well known school of hard knocks. I should have checked the rigging before sailing out of Ensenada Blanca, especially the cotter pins on all turnbuckles. It certainly would have saved me a lot of grief had I paid more attention to Nigel Calders “Cruising Handbook,” where it clearly states to check the pins frequently, especially before sailing to a distant location. It’s “live and learn” for me, I suppose. One would think that by the time he/she reaches retirement age they would know better than to go off half cocked. Now that I have thoroughly chastised myself, I suppose I should get on with it, the repairs I mean.
Today, weather permitting; I will attempt to repair the Roller Furling, which is quite a challenge for me “all by my ownself.” First let me say that I have three major concerns regarding this repair. My first concern is how do I get the long stud up and back into the roller spool, when it is being held down by the sail that is connected to the roller and the top of the mast? I can’t just unhook the sail, as it has a tremendous pressure on it and if I did God only knows what catastrophe would transpire from such stupidity. Being a stepped mast there is always the concern of it coming down if not evenly supported, especially in high winds and a rolling anchorage. My second concern is that the sail tape ripped out of its groove about half way up to the top of the mast. Wish I had a sky hook, Ha! Ha! At my age, the thought of shimmying up the furling is out of the question and using a bosons chair alone is a bit difficult. Assuming I get the stud back inside of the roller, the pressure and weight of the sail, which will most likely still be bound up on the furling, might cause the forestay cable stud to be too short to start the turnbuckle threads.
Being faced with this dilemma yesterday morning when I awoke with the wind howling through the rigging, I decided to take the day off and let these problems simmer in the back of my head. To occupy myself, I went fishing and read a book. Last night when I went to bed I still had no solution to my problems, but as usual they came to me during the middle of the night. Since it is a cutter rig I have two forestays, one for each sail, dummy. The second forstay will hold the mast up while I release the forward forstay. However to guard against disaster I must release the tension off of the backstay first. Such a simple solution and it can even be done in moderate wind, I hope!
First I must clean and lubricate all of the turnbuckle threads with lanolin grease to insure that they don’t bind and strip the threads. Once this is done I will be able to release the pressure and reinstall the roller furling. The jammed sail might still be a problem, but I will deal with it later. Ihave ten more days before I have to be in La Paz to meet Judy’s flight.
WINCHING IT BACK IN
It is now noon and my repair on the Roller Furling worked out great! I am trying to decide if I should try to remove the sail with the tape bound up in the groove, or wait until I am assured of no wind for at least an hour. Either way I will be sailing to San Evaristo tomorrow morning. The fishing is great here, but one person can only eat so much fish.
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