USA engineers on the job.

1/11/2017, Rodrigues

There was only one other yacht in the "turning basin" anchorage when I arrived, a yacht even smaller than Shanti, which always makes me feel better about my diminutive size. "Beguine" is only 27' and is circumnavigating with father and son, Ron and Mark, from Florida. 

Fortunately for me, both are engineers with decades of experience of dealing with every conceivable problem that might beset anything. They are the kind of guys who once faced with a problem gnaw away at it until the best solution is found. And so they did for three days after looking up at the rat's nest of my unravelling rigging, each morning presenting me with different options to consider.  They were totally respectful and left it to me to accept or reject their ideas.

They came prepared with miles of rope, block and tackle for independent mast climbing.

We decided to hacksaw the T toggles off the upper ends of the stays, re-lay the unravelled wires, wrap something strong around the mast above the spreaders and join them together with D-clamps, or "bulldog" clamps.



The unravelling wires on the lower stays.

A lot of this kind of temporary fix depends on what's available.  Luckily there's a Chinese "hole in the wall" store in town, well hidden behind a steel red door, that seems to sell a mixed bag of everything, from eggs to hardware.

A couple of years ago, back in Melbourne, good friend Peter Dransfield was clearing out his garage and gave me some cables suitable for locking up a dinghy.  One of these was quite heavy duty, about two metres long with a swaged eye at each end.  

We stripped the PVC coasting off the end of the cable to attach the stays to.

Hacksawed in half and threaded through the eye it made a perfect sling for going diagonally above the spreaders. The cut off end of the stays could then be joined to this using the D-clamps.

It looks a bit like part of a shell necklace.

About an hour after finishing the job, the huge Canadian yacht "Dream Catcher" arrived.  Norm was glad to find nothing remaining to be done apart from giving it the thumbs up.  I was still very appreciative of their support all the way here, knowing they were only a few days behind me and ready to rescue me if needed.

Next morning, the other single handed female sailor, Eve, arrived on her beautiful US ketch "Auntie".

We leave today, me at 0900 for Mauritius, they at midday for La Reunion.  Ron and Mark, who have already been here 7 weeks, leave Friday for Durban.

With continuing good luck, I should find a competent rigger in Mauritius with all the necessary parts to replace our jury rig for something more permanent. Should be there by Saturday morning.....

Strong angels wanted.

Rodrigues,  27/10/2017

Someone recently said I have had more than my fair share of bad luck and the rest of this trip should be plain sailing.  What's that about tempting fate? 

Another unplanned detour, though not so far out of the way this time, was again thrust upon me by circumstances beyond my control - aren't they all?.  Here, in an unscheduled stop at Port Mathurin, Rodrigues, I'm only about 3 days short of my intended next port of Mauritius, but didn't want to push my luck with faulty rigging and potential dismasting.

What happened?  

Here's a suggestion from a friend of daughter, Pandora's, as to the potential inherent weakness in swaged wire terminals:

"The fraying stays are a worry, would be interested to know  what type of terminal fittings are on the boat and whether the standing rigging was recently done.  Generally it's not the wire rope that's the issue but the swaged terminals. I used to repair a lot of these in the shop and the swaging pressure used is critical to ensuring wire fibres are not crushed in the process."

The rigging was all replaced before leaving Melbourne, so only a couple of years old.

We did suffer a couple of knock downs and a great many hard hits that could have contributed, but it sounds more like this type of swaging is the problem, given that all three lowers failed.

I couldn't believe my eyes, when only a few days out of Cocos Keeling I looked up and saw a couple of shiny little curly "pig's tails" just below the spreaders.

At that stage I had joined a convoy of two German boats, who have been buddy boating for the past 10 years, standing 4 hour watches for each other, so one can sleep. Seemed like a great idea!  With me along, there was a potential 8 hours off.  

 

Klaus is an inspiration, at 80 years old.  He built this sturdy little craft that we have jokingly referred to as the lifeboat from the Titanic.  I say "little boat", but he is in fact one meter longer than Shanti and certainly did better in heavier weather, carrying much more sail than I can.

Once I discovered the rigging problem, I suggested they go on without me, as I would need to slow down and didn't want to hold them up.  They weren't quite as churlish as it seems in leaving me (had friends to meet in Reunion), but it was a wistful gaze at the diminishing white dots on the horizon that left me feeling very alone in this great big ocean with a mast that may soon be coming down round my ears.

Then it was back to setting my own watch keeping timer, either for 30 or 60 minute intervals, and at times I had to really force myself to get up.  Some self talk/pep talk in the wee hours:  "this is your job, it's only for a few days, make the most of the off times and go quickly back to sleep please".  Mostly I obeyed.

There were at least two ships I saw each night.  I wondered how many more I didn't see.

My attempts at supporting the mast involved using every halyard, wire, rope, dyneema, winch, jammer and cleat available.  At moments, I could even forget the imminent threat, relax and enjoy the sailing.  

 

At other moments, it was not so easy.

 

Just when I thought I was getting used to the constant motion and not knocking myself about as much, I took an unexpected tumble backwards against the stove and the little bolt thingies on the rails stabbed me hard on the spine.

Saturday 14/10,  I started packing an abandon ship bag.  With 1600 miles still to go there isn't a lot of choice other than to scuttle the boat, though I hate the thought of losing her for the sake of a few strands of wire.  I also hate the thought of having to climb a multi storied rope ladder up the sheer face of a passing tanker.

Each time I lay down to rest, another idea would spring to mind as to how to further reduce the risks, even if only to stop one of those needle sharp curly tails puncturing the dinghy.  So hop up again, and do more... this time, wrapped Velcro round the stay and used a "mouse" for a spare spinnaker halyard to pull it up and jam it tight.  That should help stop further unravelling, though I knew the weakness was at the swage.

After I had taken the baby stay to the windward side, and tightened up its turnbuckle as hard as I should, I was starting to feel a little more secure.  This light hearted moment passed a couple of days later when I noticed the leeward shroud starting the same tricks.  Switched the halyards to share the load.

With each passing day I grew more confident of making it to Mauritius.  Friends on a Canadian boat, Dream Catcher, were a few days behind me, so could pick me up if worst came to worst.  That was comforting to know.

When I gave my intentions of pushing through to Mauritius, Norm queried the sanity of this and encouraged me to stop at Rodrigues.  They are only about another 3-4 days behind me, so may be able to help with some further jury rig.  When my "main-stay", the windward baby stay snapped, it was decided!

As I write this, I am tied up alongside the main commercial wharf.  What a great relief!!  Have almost finished the clearing in process, have got internet, have made enquiries as to rigger, though, as suspected, drawn a blank there.

Luckily they didn't make me move for the departure of the Coast Guard ship.

 

Whenever a ship comes in, it's necessary to move from here, leave the port and turning basin, so it will be back out to sea for a bit this coming Sunday, the day Dream Catcher is due.  I sure hope Norm has something clever up his sleeve, or at least a mast rat capable of going up and reinforcing things aloft.  Then I suspect it will be a further limp to Mauritius. Time is against me, because of cyclone season starting mid November, so I mustn't dilly dally.

On a positive note, my power situation seems sorted.  With the solar panels charging the new batteries each day, I haven't had to run the engine at all.  And when I had to up anchor and come alongside the dock yesterday, the windlass worked like fury, with no tripping out, even against a 22 knot breeze.  Big thanks! 😊

And big thanks to all family and friends who offered concern, loving support, strong vibes and stronger mast supporting angels to help me through.

 

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Classroom of the sea

Cocos Keeling, 1/10/2017

The World ARC rally boats have just left, freeing up some of the user-pays WiFi here on Direction Island.  I only found out about this from Customs when they came to clear me in this morning.

So here's a brief update on the good ship Shanti.

After leaving Kupang, on 17th of September, I was expecting the leg to Cocos Keeling to be uneventful, with light winds, at times not enough to sail. But that's far from what I got.

The batteries were still giving grief; connecting the old and new banks together was definitely not the way to go, exciting as it was to think I had 420 Ah for the first time. So in the middle of the night, I changed over old banks for new, and if you think that was easy, well, perhaps for Superman, or any larger bicep than I. 

The next exciting trick was a lock-tight, immovable overwrap on the main halyard. Nothing would budge it. My only thought was to cut it to get the sail down, as would one day be necessary.  But I'm learning stuff in this classroom of the sea.  (Some would say I should know it all before setting out, but most of it can only be learnt on the job). So I removed the winch.  And if you think that was easy ......

I've been experimenting a lot with sheet to tiller steering, which I first read of in Webb Chiles' blog, and have been fascinated by the concept.

I shot a short video of it, which will be uploaded when internet connection is adequate.  At the end of the video, I  said to "Min", the Fleming windvane, "you may just have been made redundant."  Now was that tempting fate or what?

A couple of days later, an Indonesian fishing boat smashed into the back of me.  Fortunately Min acted heroically, like something of a roll bar, saving the stern from being holed for sure. Unfortunately she died in the process.  As did the outboard motor, its bracket and the pushpit. Only later I noticed the danbuoy, light and life ring were gone.

So it's back to increasing efforts in perfecting sheet to tiller steering.  I want to say a big thanks to Chrissie, from Darwin, who sold me some heavy duty snap blocks, which are perfect for the job.

Also big thanks to Mike, off "Wateva", for the parting gift of the sharp cockpit knife, which literally became that, in cutting me free from the fishing boat.

There was a good possibility that rope was caught round my prop and the only way to find out was to hove to and go over the side for a look.  Not at all safe practice, but necessary.  And if you  think that was easy ....

Speaking of not easy, the wind was up around 32 knots for the next week, and the seas were massive, knocking poor little Shanti off her perch, dousing her in cascades of water and covering me in bruises.

But, words of wisdom from Keith, in Darwin, who has sailed hundreds of thousands of miles with his beautiful wife, Marion, "You get used to it."

Early yesterday morning, as the sun rose, I beheld before me, Green!

And I dropped anchor in the turquoise protected waters of the magical Cocos Keeling islands.

Sent from my iPad