Xenial - Day 19 - TGIF (Thank God it's Friday)

After our wonderful half way dinner last night, I was sitting below deck writing the log for the day. The rest of the crew decided that we should gybe ahead of the night, and this involved rolling in the code zero, gybing the main sail, and then rolling out the code again. The five of them run the sailing show in Swedish, so I left them to it and sat down to write.

No sooner had I submitted the log that I heard some alarmed voices above me. I put on my life vest and sailing shoes, and quickly made my way on deck. The show was surprisingly familiar - the code zero not up flying but all over the deck, and this time also down in the water. My laundry analogy from earlier in the day was eerily accurate. Had the captain ordered a night washing of the sail? Unlikely.

I was told that the code zero sail rolled in with no issues on one side, then was unfurled on the other and while the crew was making their way back to the cockpit the block on the mast broke and down came sail, halyard and all. They managed to get most of it out of the water, but part of it was stuck under the boat. I was tasked along with others to lie on the sail recovered on deck lest it catch wind, and Gustaf and Janne in the aft struggled to get the sail lose from underneath the boat and out of the water. The sail also got some minor unfortunate tears in the process. With the sail finally stowed away, we turned our attention to what would turn out to be the real problem. The halyard was stuck under the boat, and we were operating in absolute darkness. Even Ulrik's most powerful flashlights (and trust me, they are as powerful as they get) couldn't breach the darkness of the ocean. We concluded that the halyard was likely stuck in the rudder. We still had steering albeit noticeably stiffer so had to exercise caution, and every move of the rudder resulted in a loud squeaking noise (great addition to our night soundtrack). We resolved to continue sailing with the mainsail through the night, and investigate more at first daylight - we were very happy that we had taken 3 reefs in during the day, it meant something less to worry about. Ulrik and Bobo very kindly relieved most of the crew from their nightshifts, and we were grateful to them for it. It had been a busy day.

With the first sunlight, the crew reassembled on deck and decided on next steps. We would stop the boat and send someone in the water to see what was going on. We took down what little mainsail we had up (which surprisingly allowed us to progress at 4.5 knots through the night), and tried to use our sea anchor to stop the boat. At the first pull, the sea anchor straps tore! We double checked the specifications and technically it was built to stop a boat our size. In practice a total failure. Some of our diving candidates looked at it sink away and I could tell they were wondering if they should jump at sea and try to retrieve it. Thankfully they didn't!

We then attached a fender to a sturdy rope and let that float behind the boat. Bobo, our volunteer and chosen diver, lowered himself in the aft and strongly holding on he put his head just below the water to see what was going on. With his guidance we were able untangle the hailyard from the rudder and get it back on board.

The captain was sad to see that during the night one of the two ends of the hailyard had come lose and we lost the block, so for now we could only speculate as to what happened up on the mast. Captain Ulrik does not believe that the halyard block broke. More likely is that the block shackle came off, even if it was secured, or some other kind of shackle failure. Who knows??

With Bobo safely on board, we all breathed a big sigh of relief. I forgot to mention that the boat was moving through the water at 1-2 knots during this time. Some say that it was the boat acting as a sail, but I believe it was actually Bobo pushing us forward. Should we report this to ARC+ Rally Control as time with engine propulsion?

To my extreme delight (and I know Helena would have felt the same), CJ decided that since we had gone through all this effort to stop the boat, he might as well take advantage of the situation and take a dip in the middle of the ocean. Luckily no one else followed suit, otherwise my nerves would have been seriously tested. I should have maybe opened with this - no one got hurt, injured or lost at sea in this whole operation. The only thing that was severely bruised is our ambition. Position reports have lost their appeal.

What now? We have ripped 2 foresails, no code zero, too much wind and absolutely no risk appetite to sail the gennaker - which we currently also lack a hailyard for hoisting. The sailing committee was at loss. They hoisted the main sail, which allowed us to continue towards Grenada at 6-7 knots, and then their meeting was adjourned until further notice. We estimated that this will add 2 days to our total crossing time. The trimming committee was equally lost, so they called a meeting of the fishing committee and tried all day to catch something, unfortunately unsuccessfully. We keep getting all this seaweed and really have no use for it.

I can tell that the gentlemen on board are all getting restless and the wheels in their heads have been spinning all day thinking of what new project they can devise that will allow us to sail faster. They don't like the "cruising" that we are doing right now - no foresail to trim, no wind angle to monitor, no course to adjust. Pulling the bimini up and down was all they could do today, and they were not happy. As for me, I kind of like this cruising pace. I get to read in the shade, nap half afternoon and make dinner without feeling too seasick. What are they complaining about?

After the ups and downs of the past few days, TGIF. To celebrate Bobo who saved the day, we made his favorite carbonara pasta. He has also been enjoying our supply of Swiss dark chocolate with hazelnuts. We all know that what he truly dreams of at night is a caipirinha, but in the absence of alcohol this is the best we have to offer.

I have absolutely no doubt that after a day and night of rest, the sailing committee will be in full brainstorming mode tomorrow morning and I will have plenty of creative sailing ideas to report on.

Over and out,
Mavi

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