The Leaks Return

09/03/02

    The wind died last night for a while, and we saw another movie (“My Man Godrey” with William Powell) to take advantage of the relatively calm weather.  By the time the movie was over the wind was coming up again, and my 2200 watch was pretty smooth with 12-15 knot winds.  I went to sleep after that, and as often happens, I woke up at the time that David and Eric were changing watches.  I always listen at this time if I’m awake, to see if there are any conditions worth noting.  David mentioned that one of the sail slides had become disconnected from the batten end fitting, as the strap had chafed through from the sail’s slapping over the previous three months.  Then I heard the words “reef” and “main” both mentioned in the same sentence, and I awaited those words “we had better get Bob up”, and upon hearing them sprang up from my bunk and prepared to go on deck.  We put two reefs in the main, as the wind was blowing well over 20 knots, and we also wanted to protect the slideless portion of the sail, which was below the second reef point.  Once again we had to re-tie the bowlines on the reef point lines.  These are the thin lines that are set through grommets that run along the reef point of the sail, and are used to gather up the sagging, unused sale that hangs below the reef.  We rig them with a figure eight on one side, and a bowline loop on the other, so that when we tie in a reef we take the free end, bring it around the loose sail, then do a round turn and two half-hitches through the loop.  Throughout this trip, we have had a problem with the bowline loops working themselves out, so that when the time comes to tie the reef we have to re-tie the bowlines.  This can be quite annoying when you are hanging on the boom for dear life, standing on either the companionway hatch or on the steering pedestal, bracing your body so that the boom does not pitch back and toss you off the boat.  We have tried a number of things to save the bowlines.  In Horta we replaced the lines with smaller ones, and I pre-tied the bowlines and tightened them against a cleat horn before we put them on the sail.  This did not hold up for long, and my next idea was to tie a figure eight before the bowline so the bowline would not make contact with the sail.  I really thought this would work, but a few days later I looked up and once again saw the lines hanging loose where the bowlines should have been.  I guess there is just no way around this.

    The wind continued strong through the night and the seas are building up.  This means that we started taking spray on the port side, and the fucking leaks are starting to come back.  When I awoke this morning, the top of my sleeping bag, which up to now I had managed to protect, was wet, and there was a small wet spot on my sheet.  After several grumbles and curses, I got my old t-shirts out and set to re-rigging my leak stop apparatus.  It is not too bad yet, but I’m afraid the build up of the seas is only beginning.