12/11/2017 – N29˚18.00 W80˚18.63 Florida – 180 nm
We’re just about to cross the Gulfstream off the coast of Florida!
We had a good run of wind yesterday, reeling off the miles with no assist from the engines, finally.
15:00 Tuna snack with rice. It was really light! I thought it would have a fishier taste because of how dark red the meat was. Maybe it was a small Bluefin.
17:00 Nap time!
Midnight, woke up to Chris and Cheryl putting up the main, 20 knots of wind on a broad reach. But after cranking it all the way up (which takes forever with this 2 to 1 ratio halyard) we saw the halyard was twisted and wouldn’t go all the way up. After two tries we decided to take a break and just keep a single reef in and not worry about the halyard twist for now.
But then bam! 15 minutes later the aft reef block broke and the sail was flogging, doh! So we took it down, removed the halyard to untwist and then I heard Chris’s “Shit!” The halyard had whipped out of his hands and was steaming aft, well above our heads. We thought for half an hour on how to get that whipping block of metal back down safely (Throw a lasso? Impossible. Lower the halyard? Not enough slack. Turn the boat to wrap the halyard around the mast, then climb to grab it? Too dangerous in the current seas.) But as we talked, the halyard kept wrapping worse around the boom topping lift, so we thought we’d try lowering the topping lift which would drag the halyard down with it. So we tied some life jackets to the boom and lowered the boom gently onto the cabin top, securing it horizontally with the two main sheets. Then we pulled the topping lift down as far as it would go, Chris tied himself to the boom and stood on tippy toes with the boat rocking under him with an extended boat hook waving above his head. “Hold on, Chris! Here’s a big one” and BAM, we would crash through another wave, spray flying over the cabin top. He finally snagged the halyard and was able to pull hard enough to finally bring the halyard back under control!
So we’re back under full main, then full jib and rocketing south under sail power alone.
Morning came and I had a shift with Gary, sailing the entire time. But the wind slowly died until we were moving 5 knots, so when Chris came up from his break we turned the engines on to get back up to 8 knots.
Sextant position was within 2 miles this time! Practice practice practice…