Moonstruck - Shattered. Scattered. Shredded.

November 25th 2009
Distance traveled: 538 Nautical Miles (at noon UTC)
Distance to go: 2,350 Nautical Miles (est.)
Position: 23.21.44W

We broached this morning while I was on watch. We had the APC up all night in 10 - 15 knot winds. When I came on watch at 6:00am the wind was increasing to about 18 - 20 (probably not a good time to be flying the APC) I was hoping we could take it down as soon as it was light enough. At about 7:30 the wind was stable at about 12 knots, so I thought I would leave the helm long enough to make a cup of instant coffee. Just as I was stirring my coffee the boat started to heel severely, then it just laid over as a strong gust hit us. Everything went flying. The liquor cabinet door swung open and all the glass wine glasses (souvenirs from a wine festival in Malta) flew across the salon, shattering into thousands of pieces. Alan was up at the helm in a matter of seconds and got the boat under control. An hour later after I had finally cleaned up the mess it happened again, this time Alan was at the helm; it wasn't as severe but poof! the APC blew apart. It took all of us several hours to sort out that mess. So no more light air sails for this voyage. Now we are nicely making way under the main and a reefed jib, and I have retreated to my "Happy Place" with my magazines to calm my shattered nerves. Joan's log

I decided to keep the APC up until after breakfast. It was the wrong decision. I was still in my pajamas when it shredded near the halyard in a gust of wind. We were able to steer around it in the water and avoided running over it. It trailed out alongside and behind us like a burst balloon. Luckily we still had ropes attached to all three corners of it, and it was just a tedious task to slowly pry it out of the water and on deck where we could stow it down below. It is unrepairable onboard which is a shame. As Sam and I returned to the cockpit after bringing it in, Joan and Lauren were aghast...apparently I had also shredded my pajamas in the effort to recover its remains. Sadly they were relinquished to the deep. Alan's log