Broken halyard,etc.
19 March 2016 | 01 31.001s:39 47.243w
Bill /continuing squalls
Just before 0700. The halyard that pulls the mainsail up the mast broke. The rope had been chafed for a while and with the constant movement over the last many weeks, it finally broke. I got Tracy up and we set about resolving the problem. Zephyr carries two main halyard for just such a problem. We've had the backup halyard in place for the last eight years. Now we get to use it. Only problem was that one of the blocks it goes through had frozen solid since it hadn't been used for so long. We rerouted the line through the original halyard blocks and all was set to go. Only problem was that the wind was still off out stern making having a sail up would do Zephyr no good. We left it flaked on the boom and continued with the engine til later in the morning when the winds shifted and gained enough power so they could be used. We rolled out the genoa and raised the main, now with a reef in it,so if the winds got to strong we wouldn't have problems with to much sail be ing out. We rolled out just 85 percent of the genoa and we were off, doing over six knots. We no longer seem to need our pole with the new wind angle. It's out of the east north east. Squalls have been with us all day. At least we didn't have any last night. We've had rain on and off all day but with the sails we have up now, we are prepared for them. James, our Hydro vane wind auto pilot is still doing a great job. He's steered us about 95 % of this trip. We only turn him off if we are using the engine. Other than that, he's doing his job on the stern. The squalls we've had are intermittent with rain for ten minutes then nothing for twenty. Then more rain and then none. It's been like that all day. We have the sides all set up for the cockpit so we are nice and dry( other than a few leaks) so it's no problem other than getting prepared for what might be coming. I got so rank today that even I couldn't stand my BO. I took a shower before coming back on deck after my early afternoon nap. Tracy is below doing the same as I'm typing this. More to come. Its now just after 0100 and I'm back on watch. Tracy just went below after a busy evening in the cockpit. Squalls have continued all evening, the last count was eight. I just had my first. We'll be zipping along at 5.5 knots and the wind will jump from the mid teens to the twenties and that throws off our course. We then adjust for the new wind that only lasts for a few minutes then it dies back off and we have to readjust again, over and over. The Hydrovane is still doing a great job but sudden blows will throw him off just a bit. When the wind restabiliizes, he's right back doing his job. We've finally run into theSargassoo weed that grows out here in abundance. It sole job is to jam up boats and propellers. It's already made the DuoGen pretty useless as the small prop get filled with it. Tracy had time clean the prop several times and we finally brought it back on deck. Maybe in the morning we will try again. I'm just glad we don't have a blade rudder like many of the new boats don't clogs them up so badly that boats have to stop and someone has to dive down and clear it.and it's worse with an unprotected propeller. The modified full keel on our boat stops just about all that as the rudder and prop are protected by the fiberglass keel. So it looks I keep it's going to be another night of squalls.