| Day 807 Roller Furling Unit KO'd |
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| Wednesday, 08 July 2009 | |
 Day 807 - July 8, 2009 SW, 10 knots, Course N, Speed 1 knot , Position 8*25n by 17*40w Roller Furling Unit KO'd The roller furling unit is down on the deck for the count with a technical knock out that will keep him there for the rest of the voyage. He did well for many miles and is well designed, but I think a little too finicky to take years of non-stop bashes from the high seas elements. I finally got the roller furling sail repaired, but the problem was the aluminum extrusions with the groove for the sail to slide up had shifted at the joints ever so slightly, just enough to keep the sail from going up and down. Without a variety of replacement parts I can't fix the unit out here at sea. This does not worry me as I still have my basic heavy duty gaff schooner rig intact and working as it should. I had to climb the mast twice to get it down. Being alone, I rigging numerous lines to relieve pressure here and there and guide it to the deck. Now I am in the process of converting the roller furling sail into a hank on sail that I can hoist up the headstay with a halyard and pull down with a downhaul. Downing a jib on a schooner requires working over the bowsprit and because I am alone, I have to go back and forth to the bow a couple of times to get the sail under control. The trick to getting that big sail down and keeping it and the sheet out of the ocean is to haul down the sail without releasing the sheet. It goes most of the way down; then I go forward and throw a line around it and pull it inboard. Then I go back and release the jib sheet to my mark; after that, I go forward again and secure the sail. Of course I am always wearing my safety harness. To convert the furling sail I have to sew a strong rope on the leading edge, stamp big grommets into the sail next to the rope and tie on brass hanks. In the meantime the squalls keep coming with a blast of strong wind and within half a day or night they pass. The southerly winds are still pushing us Northward, but I expect soon we will met the NE trades and the current that flows with them and we will be pushed back to the South. I patiently live here in this beautiful isolated sky-roofed cathedral, checking it out, in no hurry for a change. I am curious but not thinking too much what will happen next. I move with the wind and current. |
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