Race 3 Day 6: Spin Up Spin Down
We hoisted the medium weight spinnaker for the first time since it fell
into the water and was subsequently repaired for 52 hours. The crew
were feeling exuberant and actually cheered when it deployed without any
problems. It was all patched up and covered in blue anti-foul paint
from when it was trapped under the boat but we all knew how important it
was to get it flying again and how much work had gone into getting it
back up. I celebrated by opening one of the three soy milk containers
that I had bought in Brazil and enjoyed my breakfast of cereal and
cinnamon rolls the way I do at home for the first time in 3.5 months.
Watching everyone else pour milk on their cereal while I munch away on
dry cereal or resort to pouring hot water on mine grows old. It's the
only time I miss being able to drink milk. So that soy milk was like
the nectar of the gods. I think I had four bowls of various
combinations of corn flakes, bran flakes, and muesli. At around 9:15pm I was on the helm and though we had light winds, we
planned to fly the spinnaker all night. To date we've only flown a
spinnaker at night once that I can remember, back in race 2 off the
coast of Spain. I asked if we were going to fly it for as long as
possible and skipper's reply was "until Cape Town or until it breaks".
Unfortunately it was the latter. I heard a pop and saw the same
sickening sight of it deflating and falling into the water. This time
we were all more prepared and jumped into action quickly. I threw the
helm over hard to windward before handing over to Pete. As we ran
forward I yelled down the companionway for all hands on deck, and Ian
opened the forward hatch to the crew quarters and did the same. The
off-watch got out of bed and into life jackets and tethers quickly and
we all ran forward to secure the kite. It was a very good recovery, quickly done and with very minimal damage
to the sail. Nobody was hurt, no significant damage to the kite, and
the repair is being taken care of as I type this. We got the yankee
poled out to minimize the loss of speed and will likely be able to hoist
the spinnaker again in the morning. Initially the cause was thought to
be a broken halyard, but now it seems that the snap shackle at the head
of the sail may have opened, which is very unusual. It seems that
spinnaker just does not want to stay up. Because it is designed for the
most commonly experienced wind conditions, some people call it the
all-purpose kite, and it's the only spinnaker that has Clipper and
California branding on it. Funny that it's our most beat-up one, with
at least four different repairs, blue paint all over, and patches right
through the logos. Another lesson in perseverance courtesy of the medium weight spinnaker.
into the water and was subsequently repaired for 52 hours. The crew
were feeling exuberant and actually cheered when it deployed without any
problems. It was all patched up and covered in blue anti-foul paint
from when it was trapped under the boat but we all knew how important it
was to get it flying again and how much work had gone into getting it
back up. I celebrated by opening one of the three soy milk containers
that I had bought in Brazil and enjoyed my breakfast of cereal and
cinnamon rolls the way I do at home for the first time in 3.5 months.
Watching everyone else pour milk on their cereal while I munch away on
dry cereal or resort to pouring hot water on mine grows old. It's the
only time I miss being able to drink milk. So that soy milk was like
the nectar of the gods. I think I had four bowls of various
combinations of corn flakes, bran flakes, and muesli. At around 9:15pm I was on the helm and though we had light winds, we
planned to fly the spinnaker all night. To date we've only flown a
spinnaker at night once that I can remember, back in race 2 off the
coast of Spain. I asked if we were going to fly it for as long as
possible and skipper's reply was "until Cape Town or until it breaks".
Unfortunately it was the latter. I heard a pop and saw the same
sickening sight of it deflating and falling into the water. This time
we were all more prepared and jumped into action quickly. I threw the
helm over hard to windward before handing over to Pete. As we ran
forward I yelled down the companionway for all hands on deck, and Ian
opened the forward hatch to the crew quarters and did the same. The
off-watch got out of bed and into life jackets and tethers quickly and
we all ran forward to secure the kite. It was a very good recovery, quickly done and with very minimal damage
to the sail. Nobody was hurt, no significant damage to the kite, and
the repair is being taken care of as I type this. We got the yankee
poled out to minimize the loss of speed and will likely be able to hoist
the spinnaker again in the morning. Initially the cause was thought to
be a broken halyard, but now it seems that the snap shackle at the head
of the sail may have opened, which is very unusual. It seems that
spinnaker just does not want to stay up. Because it is designed for the
most commonly experienced wind conditions, some people call it the
all-purpose kite, and it's the only spinnaker that has Clipper and
California branding on it. Funny that it's our most beat-up one, with
at least four different repairs, blue paint all over, and patches right
through the logos. Another lesson in perseverance courtesy of the medium weight spinnaker.
