Cape Verde to St Lucia (part 4)
We realized I haven�'t posted a blog since Thanksgiving and we are into day 15 of our Atlantic crossing. We are getting excited because we have less than 48 hours to go. Our thinking is going to the to-do list for arrival and the other activities available for us. Of course, sailing and management of the boat continues.
This has been a downwind run almost the entire distance. Rodney Bay is on the west side of St Lucia and we will therefore need to secure everything in the cabin for the final upwind approach. The forecast is calling for 15 knot on Saturday so it should be a pretty good sail into the harbor and across the finish line.
One of the items purchased for this trip was a whisker pole to hold the jib all the way out to the side of the boat when going downwind. Our pole is made from 2 sections of aluminum tubing that telescope to about 19 feet when fully extended. We found that we gained ½ to 1 knot boat speed when using the pole and we could sail as far as 30O from directly downwind. Well, 2 nights ago the wind picked up into the 20s so I went about the process of adding a second reef in the main sail. This is the sail most ketch skippers reef first. As I finished the reefing task there was a loud noise then things got real calm. I looked around and saw that the whisker pole had buckled under the load and was flailing about. Monica was still in the cockpit so she rolled up the sail while I went about securing everything. I tied the bent pole to the lifeline stanchions and will disassemble it in St Lucia and try to get new tubing. The obvious damage was the smaller tube doubled back on itself. Less
obvious is the large outer tube also has a long sweeping bend in it. If a new inner tube doesn�'t slide inside the outer one then I will be replacing both tubes.
Since losing the whisker pole we have been sailing wing-on-wing, the Brits call it �"goose wings�". The main is held with a preventer on one side of the boat and the jib is held out by the wind on the other side. This becomes a real balancing act when the waves causing the boat to roll are thrown into the mix. And we can only go straight downwind +/- a couple degrees. This arrangement will get us close to the channel between St Lucia and Martinique and we will do the rest on a reach.
Fishing is finished for us for now. I caught 1 dolphin and lost all 3 lures I bought in Las Palmas. I�'m sure I will be able to restock in St Lucia. I want to get some heavier line since I can�'t stop the boat.
This has been a downwind run almost the entire distance. Rodney Bay is on the west side of St Lucia and we will therefore need to secure everything in the cabin for the final upwind approach. The forecast is calling for 15 knot on Saturday so it should be a pretty good sail into the harbor and across the finish line.
One of the items purchased for this trip was a whisker pole to hold the jib all the way out to the side of the boat when going downwind. Our pole is made from 2 sections of aluminum tubing that telescope to about 19 feet when fully extended. We found that we gained ½ to 1 knot boat speed when using the pole and we could sail as far as 30O from directly downwind. Well, 2 nights ago the wind picked up into the 20s so I went about the process of adding a second reef in the main sail. This is the sail most ketch skippers reef first. As I finished the reefing task there was a loud noise then things got real calm. I looked around and saw that the whisker pole had buckled under the load and was flailing about. Monica was still in the cockpit so she rolled up the sail while I went about securing everything. I tied the bent pole to the lifeline stanchions and will disassemble it in St Lucia and try to get new tubing. The obvious damage was the smaller tube doubled back on itself. Less
obvious is the large outer tube also has a long sweeping bend in it. If a new inner tube doesn�'t slide inside the outer one then I will be replacing both tubes.
Since losing the whisker pole we have been sailing wing-on-wing, the Brits call it �"goose wings�". The main is held with a preventer on one side of the boat and the jib is held out by the wind on the other side. This becomes a real balancing act when the waves causing the boat to roll are thrown into the mix. And we can only go straight downwind +/- a couple degrees. This arrangement will get us close to the channel between St Lucia and Martinique and we will do the rest on a reach.
Fishing is finished for us for now. I caught 1 dolphin and lost all 3 lures I bought in Las Palmas. I�'m sure I will be able to restock in St Lucia. I want to get some heavier line since I can�'t stop the boat.
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