Day 20 report - perseverance in adversity
20 March 2023
• 10 34 S 132 13 W
by Ken Hilk
Things were looking good in the middle of the day today, the skipper went up the mast again (for the last time I plan to on this
trip) to rig a halyard for the spinnaker, after deciding to use the previously rigged spinnaker halyard to repair the genoa
halyard. The seas were very rolly and the masthead swinging. The good news is the genoa is still sailing well on its new halyard.
The rest of story is not so good. Our mast head on our Island Packet 485 has an inherently poor system for rigging a spinnaker, a
problem that was flagged by two different rigging companies that have assisted us with standing and running rigging. Both rigging
companies suggested improvements that we made, but bottom line none have worked, and today we had to fish our spinnaker out of the
ocean again when the halyard block chafed through our halyard. So the spinnaker is done for the trip, and this means our daily
speeds are significantly reduced.
On top of that, our main sail developed a tear in the foot of the sail, and we immediately reefed it in so as not to have any
further damage done to the sail. This is also a painful loss.
So we are minus a main sail and our spinnaker. However, we are doing our best to persevere and keep sailing all the way to the
Marquesas. Our weather reports are calling for light winds, so it may be very tough.
Lover Of The Light sailing on the Marquesas.
Distance sailed:2,816 miles
To Hiva Oa: 406 miles
Comments