L'Eau Commotion Westabout

8:00pm Sunday 10th June 2018 ( UTC-5 )
With quite a big swell running and a fresh breeze yesterday it was decided to leave the staysail being held up by its halyard until calmer conditions prevailed. The wind died away during the early hours of the morning so after breakfast in a dead calm the job was started. Because the boat was not moving the thought entered the head that no safety harness would be needed as it can be a real nuisance when you have to go back and forth to the foredeck. But sanity, and a promise, prevailed, so full clip - unclip was carried out. I say this because midway through the operation a fresh little squall came up - not a real problem except it got the Yacht cutting through the water a good sight faster than I can swim. Lesson heeded. With a few lead ropes I fed the drum and furled sail through the pulpit as I lowered the halyard. Not a hard job but the danger is the foils could be bent which could have made it difficult to strip off the sail. The stay seemed to have pulled out of the Sta Lok fitting or maybe this is the normal mode of failure under extreme stress. From the picture you can see the centre core is intact with some of the outer strands broken. After the chilling rain shower what better way to reward myself than with a Mint Flavoured Hot Chocolate Drink. The goodies just keep on coming! The rest of the day has been spent virtually becalmed travelling about 25 miles since daybreak.

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