Kaimusailing

Getting around Lookout Point, or more accurately, running through Lookout Point Shoal at a likely spot, maybe 25 feet of water, right turn Clyde, and see if you can sail up into Morehead City/Beaufort, NC. We had been running down the Bay, or more accurately, reaching on a Westerly course with a Northerly wind. NE. When we turn the corner and head up toward Beaufort, we are getting close to the wind. We want to go North and the wind is is coming from the Northeast.
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If you look down on a boat that is sailing with only its jib you see the jib at the bow pushing sideways and the boat would turn that way except for the rudder that is working in the opposite direction, to balance the force of the jib. So, the rudder is trying to turn the bow into the wind and the jib is trying to turn the bow away from the wind, net effect zero? Not exactly, these two forces at either end of the boat, both trying to send one end of the boat or the other downwind, have to tbe countered by something else or the boat would just drift off downwind. The keel is the central part of the boat that holds it in place, maybe slipping a little, but its like the center support for a teeter totter, each end is trying to get control but they balance out, and that central support, the keel, keeps the boat from drifting off to leeward.
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In our case we want to sail right up into Morehead City Harbor, Beaufort’s channel is twisty and it is unlikely that we could negotiate that channel with sail only. The problem with sailing right up into Morehead City is not that it has some sneaky twists and turns, it is that we have to go around Lookout Point Shoal, so we go South down around the Point and then try to go North to Morehead City. If the wind was East, then we could make it up North, but with a Northeast wind we have to improvise, we will sail North but not make it into Morehead City, we will miss it by a bit to the left, to the West, and then try to tack over and come back and try again, whittle it down bit by bit.
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When I tried to tack with just the jib up, the boat wouldn’t go through the tack, it needed some sail area aft to weathercock the boat, otherwise we wouldn’t even get close to tacking with just the jib. We could gybe, turn off the wind and sail a loop de loop back up onto the opposite tack, but when I did, I found our resultant course was a reciprocal of what we were doing before, not gaining any ground upwind. We needed mainsail to sail to weather.
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I had to gybe onto the starboard tack to hoist the main, so around we went. The halyard was fouled a bit on other lines and stays, so I carefully sorted that out, didn’t take too long, then started pulling the sail up. We had to clear the battens from the lazyjacks and any other obstructions. When the sail was just a little way up it helped weathercock the boat and as the boat got more and more in line with the wind, the sail went up more easily. It was up and flapping like mad. I bore off and trimmed sail, but now we were on starboard tack heading for the beach, about a half mile away.
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I tried to tack the rig, but it was so windy that the boat would stop well before it got head to wind, so I gybed the whole rig and we went around. It was blowing about 20 knots and I had done this many times before, gybing is a strong breeze. Once we got around I was less nervous, piece of cake. Trim the boat on the new course. 5 knots over the ground, lots of big chop.
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Now we were on the right tack to go East and line up with the channel. It was rough but not any worse than what I had sailed many times with this boat. Then the port running back stay popped. The stay itself was getting wrapped with other lines in the wind. I went back aft to port and pulled the 5:1 purchase that kept the stay tight. The blocks and line were hanging over the port rail. When I brought it in I could see the shackle that connects the purchase to the stay had failed. It was a Ronstan shackle for 5/16“ line and the shackle which normally looks like the letter D now looked like a J.
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I went to climb on the helm station to reach the running back stay which was now fouled with the port lazy jack. I got it free after a bit of a balancing act standing on the on deck helm. Then I tied it off at the gooseneck with some dynema. I went back to where the purchase was laying on the aft port deck and heard a crash. The rig had come down.
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I went around assessing damage, then went about trying to save what I could. The mast was obviously broken, the stub of the base was bobbing off the starboard beam and right next to it was the masthead, the bulk of the mast was hanging down to the depths while its lower part was still tethered to the hull. Part A and part B.
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I called Sea Tow and tried to give them my lat and long. There was some miscommunication but it sounded like they were going to come out right away. They did not. I was drifting to the West at about 1 1/2 knots.
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A power vessel happened by and I could hear they were talking to the Coast Guard on channel 22 alpha. Eventually we all were able to assess the situation and the result was that I was in no immediate danger and Sea Tow would help me to shore.
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The Sea Tow towboat arrived and I asked if he could help me cut away the rig. He was taking pictures of the boat and talking to someone on his phone. Then he said it would cost me $425/hour, and I said OK. I asked him to knock out the pin holding the boom to the mast at the gooseneck. I had already removed the restraining nut. He was unable to budge it and then I said I would come aboard and try it myself. I could not get it to budge. I decided to let the boom go with the mast and began cutting away the rig.
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I was using the angle grinder with cut off disk. I had bolt cutters on board which is what mariners had used traditionally to cut away the rig. The angle grinder is much faster. I turned on the inverter and plugged an extension cord into the outlet and used that to power the grinder. I cut the two port shrouds, then cut the mainsheet and let it unravel from the mainsheet blocks. The boom then went over the side. The starboard running back stay’s purchase was then cut and it fell away. Up at the bow I cut both forestays with the grinder, then undid the jib’s tack from the shackle on the bow crosstube. The remaining starboard shrouds were cut and the rig sank to the bottom.
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The tow boat hooked up to us with a tow line and began towing me to Beaufort now about 9 miles away. I had drifted about 5 miles waiting for the tow boat. It was windy and rough and we got into port and I anchored across from the town dinghy dock. There were only two other boats anchored. Very empty.
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The tow boat skipper had a waterproof tablet on board with which to do the transaction and I signed in a couple of places, but such signatures come out scribbly. He said the bill would be $1300 and change and I said I would pay for his extra hour standing by while I cut away the rig, but the rest of the work he did was ordinary, a towing job, which was covered by my tow boat insurance. He said his home office was requiring the inflated bill, he himself sympathized with me and gave me contact information with the home office in Wrightsville Beach.
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After he departed I had a quick meal of soup and then went to sleep in my bunk. It was about 3 in the afternoon. I woke at around midnight and had a snack and went back to sleep again. In the morning it was overcast and the gale that was predicted was starting to arrive with winds increasing and some spattering of rain.
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I felt numb, blank, what are we going to do now? The working sails went overboard with the rig. I had the genoa which didn’t. Kaimu was now a power cat with a motor that wouldn’t start. I decided to forget about the sailing rig for now and take a couple days to recover from this disaster. Maybe I should replace the engine and go on from there. I should at least try to get the Yamaha running again.