The Hynes Honeymoon!

Author: Seth
"Jerry-rig" - "To fix an object (usually mechanical) to a working condition in a haphazard way."
Pic: Steve and I at the mast removing the sail cars.
Google Earth Position at 06:00: 35 09.000N, 71 30.000W

As I took my midnight to 3am watch the weather conditions deteriorated around us. At 2:45am I recorded in the Captains Log that we were outrunning lightning storms with only 20% of our jib unfurled and seas growing to 10 foot swells, sending the boat into a pounding rhythm that probably made sleep all but impossible down below. In fact, Henry was passed out on the saloon sofa, unable to sleep in his bunk below due to his worsening seasickness. The wind was gusting to around 30 knots and I was left wondering what Elizabeth was going to say when I woke her at 6am for her time on watch.

Thankfully the weather started to improve and as the sun came out and we found ourselves in big seas but light winds. As the pictures attest, it was a sunny day and we were quite lucky to have an opportunity to better view the damage we had caused the previous afternoon. Although chances were slim that we could jerry rig our boat to sail all the way south to Tortola, we wanted to try.

Our plan was simple, but in the end would take over eight hours to complete and would leave us with only 80% of our mainsail for the remaining 8 days at sea. We would basically perform a bit of surgery on our mast - taking cars from the lower sections of the sail and placing them at the top where the headboard had pulled free. What may sound simple was no walk in the park as each car contained 48 ball bearings that we would need to load individually. Losing just a few of them would have only made matters worse than they were 12 hours ago.

Thankfully it all worked perfectly and showed that our "crew" could work together and triumph as a result. Everyone contributed to the outcome and after several hours of work we were extremely pleased to hoist our mainsail to the first reef, divert from our current course to Bermuda and head south following the rest of the fleet. An accomplishment I proudly boasted of on the SSB radio call that evening.

Come hell or high water (how appropriate, no?), we would limp our way south before quitting! Although we were already in last place, were sailing with a weakened mainsail and were now an additional half a day behind, we would be joining the fleet in the BVIs. And nothing could have made us happier.

But a few distant thought remained in my head. Just how did this happen and what did the track look like at the top of the mast? Once we got to Tortola would we be able to get new cars and raise the sail to the weakened section - or would we need to replace the entire track, thereby removing the entire mast to do so? Only time would tell, but we were far from out of this one yet.

Comments

Vessel Name:	Honeymoon
Vessel Make/Model:	2004 Lagoon 380, Hull 279, Owner's Version
Hailing Port:	San Francisco, CA
Crew:	Seth & Elizabeth Hynes
About:	Seth & Elizabeth met in 2004 and have long since agreed that they did not want to live "the typical life. [...] More
Extra:	OUR EXPERIENCE: Seth is a lifelong sailor with over 25 years of boating experience. His family taught him to sail via ASA instruction and through many weekend trips on their family boat, a Benateau 35, sailed on Lake St. Clair, Michigan. He then moved to San Francisco where he raced with two [...] one-design sailing teams before joining his families racing boat "Shadowfax," a classic Wianno Senior design based in Osterville, Mass. Elizabeth is an adventurer by spirit and has traveled all around the world for both pleasure and work. While living in England she sailed in Croatia on the Med and also with the Hynes family in the Grenadines. Elizabeth is also part of the "Shadowfax" racing team and she looks forward to becoming a more confident Captain over the course of the next year. THE BOAT: Having never sailed a catamaran before in our lives, choosing to purchase one was very difficult. However, the more we researched the boats the more we liked them. Catamarans are great for cruising with their shallow draft and large living accommodations. They also feature inherent back-ups which improve safety; like two hulls, two rudders, two engines and props. Once we learned that Cats crossed the oceans regularly, we took a solid look at the options out there, of which there were plenty. In the end, the Lagoon 380 stood out from the rest of the fleet for its dependability, successful production history and interior comforts. Our boat is a three berth "Owner's Version" that has never been chartered and has a larger head with a standing shower. When this was discovered, the search was over. After all, if Elizabeth is happy, Seth will be happy! THE ITINERARY: From the beginning it was always our plan to sail from the East Coast of the US to Australia, stopping along the way in the Caribbean and Central America. However, being new to the cruising life, we didn't want to force ourselves to do anything we didn't want, so the itinerary was left open. Not surprisingly, we loved our time cruising in the Caribbean but yearned for more of an adventure and opted to cross the Pacific Ocean in search of islands less visited. What we found was exactly what we were looking for. And in the end, Australia was a perfect boat market for a Catamaran and an end to an incredible 18 months of sailing. Below was our itinerary: SEPTEMBER, 2008: Refit boat in Norfolk, Virginia USA OCTOBER, 2008: Refit and sail Chesapeake to Annapolis, MD NOVEMBER, 2008: Caribbean 1500 rally to BVIs British Virgin Islands, Caribbean DECEMBER, 2008: St. Martin, St. Barts, Ile Fourche, Statia, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat JANUARY, 2009: Dominica, Antigua, Barbuda, The Saints, Guadeloupe FEBRUARY: Guadeloupe, Bonaire, Curacao, San Blas Islands, Panama MARCH: Cross through the Panama canal, Galapagos APRIL: Pacific Ocean Crossing, Marquesas French Polynesia MAY: Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti JUNE: Moorea, Huahine, Ta'haa, Bora Bora JULY: Bora Bora to Suwarrow, Cook Islands AUGUST: Niue and Vava'u Tonga SEPTEMBER: Tonga and Fiji OCTOBER: Fiji and Vanuatu NOVEMBER & DECEMBER: Eastern Australia, Bundaburg to Sydney JANUARY: Fly home from Sydney to San Francisco. Quickly get jobs during a recession. Start a family. Buy a house. Start fanatically reading other sailor's blogs. More
Home Page:	http://www.sailblogs.com/member/honeymoon/