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Berenice by TWT - Day 10



Eventful day today.

Early morning brought a shift in the wind forward so just before daybreak we prepared to drop the A4 we sailed with through the night. As the sock was coming down closing the gennaker we saw the boom swinging backwards and forth around the gooseneck. It had came loose. One of the screws holding the pin in place had unscrewed and so the big pin joining the boom and the gooseneck came out letting the boom free.

Fortunately, in the middle of such bad luck, we think because of the angle we were sailing at, the boom remained practically in place and after about 15 minutes of pushing it up and down we managed to squeeze the pin through and the boom was back in place with little damage. A task that took me about half an hour back in March with the boat on the dry, we managed to do it in about 15 minutes with the main sail all up, 15 knots of wind and waves swaying the boat very incomfortably... We all knew we had gotten very lucky!

Wind continued to drop during the morning and when it got to 15 knots from SE we tried using the Code 0 but after an hour or so it tore right through an old repair and we had to drop it quickly and unfurl the Genoa and staysail which we sailed throughout the day.

We've had a few electrical / electronics problems throughout the day which means little rest and lots of squeezing in very tight, uncomfortable and warm corners of the boat trying to sorting them out. Relays and power supplies going kaput, some of them replaced and solved, some of them not, but nothing dramatic really.

The sail situation feels more serious to be honest, with the A4 our only Gennaker left and it being a heavy weather kite, we have not a truly light air sail left so we think we will struggle for a while in the next few hours with the light winds predicted for the approach to St Lucia.

8 knots of wind on our beam right now and we're sailing under main and jib. A wonderfully starry Atlantic night and a nice roasted dinner with the awesome Gran Canaria's potatoes that we just can't have enough, to close up this busy and hectic day.

A deserved sleep next,
Night Night!



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