Kaimusailing

At some point it became obvious that we were being set steadily west of our intended course. We would have to jibe the staysail to head a bit more off the coast.
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When I turned the wheel and the staysail began shaking, upset that it no had to jibe over, the inner forestay gave way. The stay itself is 3/8 inch stainless and of course it wouldn't break, but the dyneema lashings that secure it to the #1 beam did let go. They probably were shredded by an aluminum carbiner that had twisted apart.
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This was very alarming. The only thing holding the mast up forward was the genoa halyard, which did its job, but was so stretchy, the mast raked backwards and slammed from side to side.
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The inner forestay still had the staysail on it, blown alee off the port side. What a racket it made in that wind. I dragged the sail down off the stay, unclipping it, and stuffed it down the port hatch into the vanity area.
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I took the staysail halyard off the sail and tied it to the #1 beam eye that the inner forestay had been attached to. Winding up the halyard brought the rig back under control.
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It didn't last long, the halyard let go. Then a piece of old genoa sheet was tried and it too parted. I was out of options now, then I dragged myself against the inertia that happens when adrenaline starts to wear off. There was still a crisis but now no energy to face it.
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Perhap I could cannibalize one of the running backstays and take the purchase and use it to replace the missing dyneema lashings. Moving around on throughout these conditions was very difficult. I was thrown this way and that, landing on my back on sharp objects, hitting my head, swearing. It was hard to disassemble the purchase, which was a pair of triple blocks, and reattach it to the loose inner forestay and the #1 beam eye. Then the bitter end was taken to the main halyard winch on the mast and the rig was once again tightened.
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We were now without sail. An attempt to start the engine revealed the battery was dead. Jumping the pilothouse battery didn't help. Now that battery was very low, too.
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We were sailing downwind at 4 knots with no sail up. If I thought it was difficult to control the boat before, now it was worse. The boat tended to lie parallel to the waves broadside to the wind. This caused the boat to roll as each wave hit the windward hull, lifted it, then dropped it, and then lifted the lee hull.
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It took time to turn the boat out of this position. Beam onto the seas we were drifting downwind sideways at about 2 knots. With the helm full over the boat would slowly turn downwind, however, it only took another wave or gust of wind to set the boat back beam on to the seas.
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I was using the Brigadier smart phone and Marine Navigator Lite to navigate to the inlet. A mark was placed at the entrance to the inlet and it bearing and distance were displayed as well as our course and speed. It showed we were maintaining our coure to the inlet, arrival time late in the evening.
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The wind and seas continued to build. Now there were breaking seas and the boat was taking a real beating. The mast was not totally secure on its step, it had been displaced when the inner forestay broke, and now it was half off the step. It slid right off the step and down onto its crossbeam below. This loosened the rig again and the boom was now lower and beating up the helm station. It was imperative to get this boat into the inlet and out of these seas.
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The smart phone was now being shut off to conserve its battery. The boat's batteries were too low to charge it. The nav lights began to fade away. The compass couldn't be read. I was using the lights that mark the inlet to steer by. As bad as things were going, it looked like just a matter of keeping on and we would make it.
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I looked for the red and green channel markers that were furthest out to sea and headed for them. The wind and waves continued to spin us off course and there was always that long dead in the water, beam on to the seas interval while we waited for the rudders to take effect.
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As we approached the red and green channel buoys, there was a lurch, a crash, a crunching sound. We had sailed into the submerged breakwater. The boat ran roughly over the breakwater. I was probably in shock at this point. I checked below and found there was water in the galley. I called the Coast Guard announcing we had hit the breakwater and were taking on water. They advised me to put on my PFD. I began bailing water out of the galley after throwing the lunch hook anchor over. It had a longer rode than the big Danforth, and the main plow anchor was inoperative due to the windlass problem.
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I could keep up with the leak using a 1 gallon coffee tin. I would bail it into the galley sink till it was full, then into a pail on the top step of the galley ladder, then again into the sink as it drained, then dump the pail when it was full.
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Eventually a boat showed up with blue lights signifying a marine police vessel. They came closer and I asked if they had a gas powered pump. They responded that I was to put on my PFD and come aboard their vessel. I grabbed my wallet and checkbook, dead cell phone, and its charge cable, and left Kaimu to the wind and seas.
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The photo is from the Fernandina Beach Marina during the evening. These guys were very helpful.