Danica I - Danica Sailing Log

Day 16- Monday, December 10, 2018
¢ Night Watch Report:
o 15-21 knots with gusts/ sailing 5.5 - 6.5 knots with genoa and Main-2
o beautiful starry night
o 10: 30 -Repeated yesterday's fire drills in the morning after breakfast- genoa down, code 0 up to get to St. Lucia ASAP.
o Oppps…..not a good decision
¢ Day sailing and Danica's Trip's distance
o 11:55 -16-19 knot winds with gusts, Sailing at 8-10 knots with code 0 and main
o A squall caught up with us just as Don was preparing to get on the radio net, and Mary was gathering the log data waiting for 12:00 noon trip distance. When a gust caused Code Zero's top shackle to break and our beautiful sail was flying beside the boat into the water along with some metal parts
o Damage Control:
" Turn the boat into the wind
" Drop the Main
" Retrieve Code 0 from the sea
" This was not a fire drill by any stretch of imagination
" The crew was soaked from the rain and sweat
o There is a considerable damage to mast's spreader braces compromising mast's integrity.
o Captain issued Pan Pan by email to ARC officials at 13:30
o We are able to continue sailing with partially furled genoa and storm sail
o 12:00 - noon - Trip distance - 2457 NM
o The distance to St. Lucia suddenly became very large on the chart and I do not want to think about the hustle and costs of getting this mess fixed.
¢ Highs and Lows of the day
o The silver lining in the above experience (which was the lowest of the low's so far) was:
" no bodily injuries
" possible consolation prize in St.Lucia since our ETA just doubled
" Mary may actually use up the food in the fridges