We left the dock and headed S/SW to catch the Trade winds. The first day everyone is a little excited/nervous about the crossing, and with light wind from behind, that steadily built to 18-20 knots, we started with a lovely downwind ride – quick and smooth – and great for napping!
The first night out was crystal clear so we had our very own planetarium.
The winds picked up on Day 2 which required a different (stiffer) sail – so we pulled our Drummer (names after the Badass Belter from the Expanse series). Moxie was moving a little faster, but still nice and steady.
And – as an added bonus – we had a visit from a HUGE pod of dolphins – close to 40!
All was well until mid-day on Day 3…. I woke up from a nap after my morning shift (4-7 am) and learned about our ‘small problem’.
Uh oh… It seems that in effort to fix a ‘squeak’ from the topping lift (the thing that holds up the boom), we didn’t notice that it had chafed through a cover in 5 or 6 places until we gybed. Typically not a big issue and easily fixable, except that we used a messenger line as a placeholder for the topping lift (while we addressed the chafe spots). This messenger line is much thinner than the topping lift and it slipped into the gap next to the pulley at the top of the mast and is now stuck. So now we don’t have a topping lift to hold the boom up <sigh>.
Anthony went up the mast (yes, while underway – (eye roll) to try and fix it.
However, after getting about ¾ of the way up , he decided it too dangerous (thankfully!). The acceleration forces on a catamaran about 18m up the mast are intense, much more so than on a monohull. He could only hold on for dear life and didn’t have any extra hands to tie himself onto the mast or to actually free the messenger line. We are going to have to live without the topping lift for the rest of the trip, unless the seas calm down (which is unlikely). This means that we’ll need to be more conservative when reefing (shortening the sail) so the boom doesn’t come crashing down if the mainsail rips.
Other than the fact that it’s been mostly cloudy so far, which mean the solar panels aren’t keeping up with our power consumption we are making good progress –2257 NMs to go (1/11, @ 11:59 PM, MT )!
