Captain's Log

November 3, 2002

Hello,
 
Well it had to happen at some point in the race.......it just would not be a sailboat race without a halyard breaking and the sail going in the water would it ??
 
At 4:00 a.m. this morning I felt a difference in the motion of the boat and we had slowed down by 2 kts or so. Up on deck something was missing, the spinnaker. It took a few moments to register what had happened. Looking back over your shoulder is not the initial reaction when looking for a spinnaker, but there it was, trolling behind the boat, like we were some sort of fishing trawler.
 
This has never happened to me when alone, so it was important to try and figure out the correct sequence of events in order to save the sail and not get into any further difficulty. Step one, release the tack line and the windward spinnaker sheet as they had both become wrapped around the rudder and potentially the keel. One line at a time, ever so gently I pulled and they came free. Rudder and keel now free of tangles. Getting a spinnaker back on board with the snuffer ( big sock that covers the sail for ease of hoisting and dousing ) bunched 60 feet behind BTC Velocity was going to take more than my strength, I tried to pull but with no movement. So, I took the now clear spinnaker sheet, the other one was the only line attaching the whole mess to the boat,  to near the bow, set up a snatch block and lead the line back to a winch. Slowly I tightened the line and the sail etc came alongside the boat. After some vigorous pulling, the spinnaker, sock and all lines were recovered.
 
Damage: Only that I now have one less Spinnaker halyard. Sail and snuffer are all fine and as soon as I type this up goes the sail again after a little re packing.
 
A little bit of luck involved perhaps, but now I know what to do next time !! Will have to check the area that the halyard broke for wear when I get to Cape Town. One more thing for the list of to do's .
 
After all that, not one flying fish in my spinnaker. Maybe I find one later after it gets re hoisted !!
 
Alan
Fishing off the Cape Verde's