The first inkling of something wrong was when I noticed blue sky from my bunk - a piece of panneling around the mast had fallen away....
A quick - very quick check revealed that three bolts holding a collet supporting the mast at deck level had sheared, leaving the mast waving merrily at the passing waves. We rapidly brought down all sail to prevent a rig collapse and surveyed the damage. Clearly, competitive sailing was out, so sadly, our race was over. We discussed the possibility of a repair at Kinsale, but it looks like a mast-out job and, since the boat is on charter, with the owners on another boat, we were not in a position to get agreement for repair.
So, we are now retired from the race, slowly motoring our way back to plymouth - probably via Penzance to pick up more fuel.
The crew have been brilliant - although everyone is clearly disappointed, spirits are good as we work our way through Emily's cake.
Trev
Tuesday 0730
Well, the forecast 20 to 30 knot winds came in with a vengeance last night, along with a crazy, steep sea that challenged the helms - and it kept it up for most of the night. The wind had increased a little earlier in the evening, necessitating a reef. The first foreboding of something bigger came at around 10, so we put a second reef as a precaution - good call!
We stormed along at up to 10 knots, putting us in a geat position to achieve an extremely good result for the race - maybe even finishing as early as thursday morning. Fingers crossed!
Trev
Monday 10 am
A bout of illness among some of the crew necessitated a clean-up. This was almost thwarted by our inability to locate the deck brush. Luckily, David volunteered to descend into the bowels of the boat, so saving us the ignominy of arriving with a dirty boat.
Trev
Mon 1430
We're just approaching the Lizard, after a great day's sail. The wind forced us a little south but we're now approaching our turning point for the Scillies in a couple of hours. The crew is well but the boat seems to be objecting to being so far from home - mainly by means of a battery that keeps going flat with alarming regularity - quite literally - with a 12v alarm going off every two or three hours, indicating a re-charge. And now the engine overheat alarm has joined in, even though the engine seems to be running fine, with cooling water running freely. A quick check of the sensor shows it goes off even when disconnected - maybe a short circuit somewhere??? Hope we have enough fuel to keep the electrics running!
Trev
0530 Monday
We're going well - put a reef in for a while, when the wind got up above 20 knots but shook it out again after about 6 hours. The wind has shifted about a little, but not as much as forecast and has now lightened considerably - maybe time to change headsails??
Trev
Sun - 40 mins to go...
Its getting quite busy out here! There arer yachts everywhere, wekre hanging around at the back, waiting for our turn. The AIS is teaming with targets and we're threading our way through them.
Not long now!
Trev
Sun - 2 hours to the start
Well, we've now registered for the race - time to get these silly sails down and look serious!
T
