Tamanaco - today’s hero is… Vincent!

Yesterday our Code Zero sail came loose at rhe top of the mast, due to a breakage of the exact same swivel part that caused our gennaker sail to come Down A week or so ago. So for the night we just unfurled the Genoa headsail and a little bit of main sail to balance the boat. Night was uneventful, sailing at around 6 knots.
This morning, I order to gain speed we wanted to use the larger Code Zero again, which is approximately 40% more area vs the Genoa, thus allowing1-1.5 knot additional speed. We determined that we could use the sail the conventional way (vs. on it’s own curler), but first needed to ensure there wasn’t an entanglement at the top of the mast, where the 1/2 broken swivel was hanging from one of our two headsail halyards. I took my Sony camera with the 70-200mm zoom and photographed the area at the top of the mast, 20 meters higher. Upon zooming on the digital picture it was evident that the broken swivel was in the way. We had two choices: continue until St Lucia with only the Genoa, or send somebody up the mast to retrieve the broken swivel and the halyard. Vincent volunteered to go up the mast, for the second time. Not easy in 10 ft swells and 20 knots winds. We executed a manœuvre called « heaving to » whereby the main sail and the Genoa (both reduced to 50% of their max deployment) work in opposition to stabilize the boat and give Vincent a little less motion. We secured Vincent with two halyards and a harness and sent him up the mast. All four remaining crews were hyper donc entrâtes to ensure his safe climbing and descent, and it was a nerve wracking moment. Finally he came down safely, but exhausted. We continued on sailing with the Code Zero until sundown when we put the Genoa up again. Without the same ease of taking down the Code Zero as is intended by the swivel mechanism, it is too risky to keep it at night when we are at the mercy of a squall with sudden, rapid increase in wind speed. We’ll fly the sail again tomorrow in day light.