Having sailed thru the evening and early morning hours with lightening strikes all around MaaMa, the torrential downpours can only be describe as going through a car wash. You then realize that during the thunderstorm MaaMa is the only 72 foot high steel and aluminum tree for hundreds of miles around for the million volts of power, it makes you wonder. No, we didn't get hit, but we did turn off all of the electronic gear just to hopefully safe guard the navigation capabilities. Suzan and I changed "watches" around 3 AM, with Suzan up and me to bed. I awoke around 7AM to winds off our port quarter. The decision was to throttle back on Perkie and raise the cruising chute. As such, the crew of MaaMa readied all lines and the halyard and checked the status of each with the other. After hoisting sail, Suzan on the fore deck handling the deployment lines with me in the cockpit working the downhaul and the sheet.
Let's for a brief moment discuss deployment lines. Whoever invented the "sock" for deploying the 2200 square foot sail should be awarded the double golden anchor. What a miraculous contrivance. Dependable, safe and easily managed. Ooooooooopppppps. Aaahhhhh sh-----t! Here's when things go 'pear shape". Suzan yells HELP and I look up from my position in the cockpit to see the lovely Suzan in a heretofore-new Pilates move. It seems that my wife, critic and best friend is hanging by her right ankle suspended 2 feet above the deck from the control line of the spinnaker sock. Let me explain. Back to the genius of invention, some wag determine that a person could safely deploy and put away a spinnaker simply by pulling down what is best describe as one leg of a very long pantyhose, of which that leg has been design to pull over and down the sail thus emptying it of air. A marvelous safety device when operated properly. However, back to our story of how Suzan ended up doing a new form of exercise. It seems that my love, while in the process of deploying the spinnaker was also standing amidst it control and deployment lines which as the sail was taken aloft became snugly and securely wrapped around her right ankle. With the scream of help, I looked up to see what was either Suzan dangling off the deck upside down or was this "Locker Beef"? Rushing forward, I could see that her right ankle was thoroughly ensnared in the deployment line. I jumped onto the line and at a 180 pounds could just barely relieve its upward pull. Not only was Suzan being lifted aloft, but I was too. I had visions of both of us being tossed over the side as MaaMa sailed westward by herself. Not being a stranger to onboard amputations, it was imperative that somehow the control line had to be loosen long enough for Suzan to escape it grip. After multiple attempts on both of our parts, with both of us being pull off the deck and then dropped unceremoniously back to the deck, finally with my pulling the control line allowed Suzan enough slack to disengage the multiple wraps from her ankle. Well this is start of our day. How's yours? We're heading to the Mall next for the 50% shoe sale Would that be a left or right Madam?
Footnote or in this case, ankle note, sailing large boats on high seas 24 hours a day, day in and day out is a never-ending job. As we write this note, MaaMa is doing 7.5 knot on 9 knots of breeze and we are bound for Tahiti. Life is sweet, dangerous, short and good. Live it, just check what's snapping at your heels!
Fair winds /) Michael and Suzan