Xenial - Day 17 - Would you rather?

Would you rather sail across the Atlantic without jib or without the autopilot?
Last night we passed another Swedish boat, and when we called them up on VHF to say hello, they told us their autopilot had broken and they were going to have to manually steer all the way. Keep in mind that we have over 1'200 nautical miles still ahead of us. We gave them all our best, it certainly won't be an easy feat, and we thanked once more that our autopilot is working.

At 7am this morning, just as I was getting my lifejacket on to head on deck for my shift with the captain, I heard him say "s*** the jib!". Now you must know that the captain never swears, so I knew something was wrong. I rushed on deck and helped him furl in the jib. It had ripped. It had been flapping a bit during the night, and we kept furling it in and out based on rain and wind conditions that kept changing. The boat just hit a wave more strongly and the sail broke.

With too much wind to consider putting up another sail, I left the captain to debrief the sailing and trimming committee and headed for my cabin to catch some sleep (it had been a particularly sleep less night for me).

When I woke up a few hours later, the sailing committee had taken down the spinnaker boom that was keeping the jib in place, and stored away all the related lines and sheets. They had retrieved from the depths of the boat the jib cover and were hosting it around the ripped jib. We didn't want more damage than what we already had. However the cover got stuck and wouldn't go higher that where the sail was torn. So I walked up on deck as the captain was getting ready to be hoisted to fix this. I was grateful to see Bobo at the helm, and CJ retrieving small walkie talkie radios to communicate. We all got our lifejackets on, and safely attached to the boat set up to help the captain. The mission was delicate and successful! We were all glad to see Ulrik's feet back on deck.

We all needed a break, especially the captain who took a long and well deserved nap. After having property rested, and having fueled up on banana bread (made in Cape Verde, it freezes really well), the sailing and trimming committees started discussing our options. We have a code zero and a gennaker, and everyone agreed that there was too much wind for either, especially since we have absolutely no desire to loose another sail. After much discussing, and jokes about hosting a clothing drive to collect enough fabric for a new sail, we remembered that we have on board another jib. The storm jib. The sailing committee had found their new project!

The sail has a surface of 15 square meters, is bright orange, and, as we soon found out, is a nightmare to hoist. We can only imagine how complex it would be to pull it up during a real storm! So the sailing committee had some fun playing around with their new toy, but unfortunately after consultations with the trimming committee they all came to the conclusion that we needed to change course to accommodate the sail, and by some estimates that would increase the number of miles left to sail by 64%. Yes, that's a lot! Down came the storm jib and with it our hopes of picking up even a little speed. We are now hoping for slower winds so we can use some of our larger sails safely.

So back to the not so theoretical question I opened this log with. We asked on board if we would rather sail without our jib or without autopilot. Bobo was fast to answer, better without autopilot - he loves steering and we are lucky to have him on board, to be at the helm when things get tricky. Captain Ulrik went the exact opposite way, he would rather be like this, without our jib, than give up the autopilot. Steering in the dark for 12 hours a day is not something he would like to have to do.

We touched base with that other Swedish boat and their autopilot is still not fixed. I guess this makes for a fairer competition between us. They were having a glass of wine with dinner, while we were enjoying a three course meal. Tomato salad, kalops and apples compote - nothing like some good food at the end of a long day to lift everyone's spirits.

Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully we will be able to celebrate half way (i.e. 1'100 miles to go).

Over and out,
Mavi