We made final preparations and finally left the dock this afternoon at 1:00 PM. Heading out into Banderas Bay, the wind was on the nose so we decided to motor until we would be sufficiently offshore to get the northerlies which would carry us to the Marquesas.

Alas, as we approached Cabo Corrientes, about 23 miles from our starting point, when we tried to unfurl the main sail it would not go. It was stuck near the top.

We sent John up in the bosun's chair to try to unstick it. That's John, in the photo, trying to pull the sail fabric out of the mast where it was bunched up.

The boat rocking back and forth is amplified when you're 50 feet in the air, so John was starting to get seasick in his lofty perch. So I decided we would motor back to the marina, still a short distance away, so that we could get the mainsail sorted out in the still waters of the marina.

We made it back to the marina just after sunset, and our rigger, Mike, showed up. He explained that, because we had the boom removed for about 3 weeks while we were having the gooseneck (the hinge that attaches the boom to the mast) repaired, that the mainsail was sitting loose inside the mast without the usual tension on it. This caused the mainsail to loosen sufficiently so that it would not exit the mast.

We got the mainsail out in about a half hour, so now we're looking at another departure tomorrow morning (Saturday, March 26).

In working with the main sail, I noticed that the clutch holding the main halyard was not holding the line. We have a spare, so I'll mount that new clutch in the morning.