Friday, January 30, 2015

A Look Back - AC Bonehead Move



A few years back we had some work done on our mast.  After 30 years, the bottom of the mast had corroded so bad, I could poke a screw driver thru the base.  Not good.  We had the yard cut off the bottom four inches and replace with a very hard material called G10.  What we did not know was this put some very high tension on our forestay. Several months later I was out in 15 kt winds when the forestay broke free at it's base.  My initial thought was, the mast is coming down.  I ran to the bow but the wind in the sail held it high enough that I could not reach it to bring it back on to the boat.  Wish the GoPro was running to see all this.  I turn the boat towards the wind and got a hold of the sail and brought her down and lashed it to the mast.  Grabbed the spin halyard and connected it to the bow for more support.  The waves were not that big so I made in to the slip safely.  A nearby rigger came by and said I was one lucky SOB.  He repaired over the weekend and made a stronger hold at the bow.  We have not had any issues since but I will never forget that scarey few minutes in the bow.

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