Careful what you wsh for

Richard Delwiche

Slow going in light winds with heat and humidity. Several crew members felt the effects to the point of heat exhaustion. Brief relief from a spectacular microburst but a few big lightning bolts raised the specter of taking down the spinnaker in heavy weather and we convinced ourselves to take down the spinnaker before we rounded the mark. We should have looked at the storm path first. At that point the wind died completely. Finally rounding the mark with the number one jib, we were still wishing for wind and relief from the heat. We got it. As the wind built, sustained over 15 knots, swells around five feet or more sent more than just spray over the deck and crew. We were flying and the already-repaired number one was holding up well under the circumstances. The jib halyard however was about to remind us just how intense those forces are. With a “CHUNK!” that shook the whole boat the sheaf of the rope where it passed through the jammer had torn allowing the core of the line to slip about a foot and a half. Soon it was two feet. The only thing preventing it from slipping further was a few wraps around the winch and the tension behind that from hanging down into the pit. We put on a couple more wraps and secured it in a v-cleat while we thought through our options. We were still moving fast despite the noise from our sagging jib. As we set to raise the number three using the spin halyard, some of us were taking bets whether the number one would even come down, thinking the puckered sheaf might jam things up. Fortunately those doubts proved false and the swap went smoothly. A few more hours were ahead of us though, and as the sun set we were making good time back down the bay with strong steady winds, swells and many more buckets of bay water washing over the deck. We crossed the mark for our finish with the moon rising exactly over the mark.