Day 4 - Pacific Crossing - 26th March

If you are one of those people who opens these updates to see what misadventure has happened on Mehalah this time you are in luck. I've got a cracker for you.

Guess what? It was my night watch again. Last night just before it got dark we had decided to head more directly for the Marquesas. That meant turning to the right a bit, more downwind. As well as the main sail we decided to leave the front sail (the Yankee) up as it was still pulling us along a bit. MISTAKE #1.

As the night went on the waves got bigger and from the side. The rolling motion increased and the wind started to get behind the main occasionally. Actually although we hadn't realised it it was actually getting behind the Yankee too. We decided we needed to do something about the main in the morning. MISTAKE #2.

At 1.30am as I tried to keep awake there's a WHOOMP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP. The Yankee sheets went slack and the forestay started shaking. Gill came zooming up, we switched on the deck floodlight and it was obvious what had happened. The flapping had ripped out the ring that connects the sheets to the sail.

So it's dark, the boat is rolling, the front sail is being whipped about and there's the danger the stay could snap and bring down the mast. Yikes!! What to do? We had a very quick, meeting. We decided to furl the sail by rolling it round the stay in the usual way. This would give initial respite. Maybe we could leave it rolled up then til it got light. This we did from the cockpit and the flogging subsided. It gave us time to review the situation. Unfortunately the wind started to unroll the sail again. We decided we must try to bring it down immediately. We talked through the steps required, gathered the tools and made our way up to the front of Mehalah ["love you John,", "love you Gill" - just in case] with water slopping over the bow. It was very dark. The wind was loud. We were travelling at more than 5 knots. We were very calm and focused. I undid the shackle at the bottom of the sail, Gill released the furling line and I rotated the sail by hand until the wind caught it and pulled it all the way out again. Next Gill worked her way back to the mast and released the halliard that holds the top of the sail. I pulled down the sail in its track. Nothing happened no matter how hard I pulled the flogging sail. Shit. What's happened? It shouldn't be that hard. Gill went back to the mast and realised that though the clutch was open the halliard was also round a cleat. She undid it and yes the sail started to come down. Now I had to control the big white flapping mass as it came down. The idea was to gather it down the starboard, downwind sidedeck but I couldn't manage it. I shouted to Gill to just let go of the halliard and help me tame the beast. But she could see that it was going over the side into the water so she didn't come to help. As it was we just managed to get it down and onto the side deck and we managed to drag the middle bit out of the water. Phew! The worst was over.

It took another 30 minutes to finish tidying up and finally we crept back to the cockpit exhausted but very satisfied. It was now 3am and all thoughts of the previous day's illnesses were long forgotten.

And guess what? She actually sailed more comfortably with just the mainsail!

The rest of the night passed uneventfully but still with a most uncomfortable motion.

Once it got light we decided to review the damage and see if we could repair it so we managed to negotiate the 70' sausage aft , in through the front cockpit window and down into the saloon where we fought it into a corner. It might be mendable as it's only the tapes that hold the ring that have broken or come loose. We cleared up the affected area and Gill has begun stitching the now snapped tapes back in place. It's a long, hard job and the needles are blunting quickly. Luckily we have Hugh"s chisel sharpening stone to give the needles back a bit of a point. We shall see. Shortened tapes, blunting needles, thick material and less than ideal sail thread. It might just work but we won't know until some strain comes back in the sail.

And that together with running the water maker for the first time in a rolling seaway has taken up most of the day.

Tonight it's tuna (tinned) pasta salad.

Just now we are headed direct for Hiva Oa at 6 knots. The chartplotter says something between 21 and 24 days to go.


email (text only, no pictures) to mvgc3@sailmail.com

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