Day 8 SXM to Gib
Noon Position 32deg 11N 31deg 50W
Course – 70 Degrees Speed – 10.5 Knots Day’s Run – 244 Miles
Weather – Cloudy with very confused 6’ (2m) swells
Wind – 8 knots from 200 degrees
Late afternoon we were motor sailing along nicely when suddenly the main halyard broke and everyone jumped into action to get the main sail safely down on deck and contained. Luckily the seas weren’t too bad and we only had 15 knots of breeze. Twenty minutes later we had the spare main halyard lashed on and re hoisted the main with no harm done to the sail. Unfortunately now furling and unfurling the sail is not such a simple job. We also have the tricky job of mousing a new halyard down through the mast and out through a small opening near the base of it. This will have to wait until we are in flat water as the top of the mast is swing back and forth about 30’ (10m) with every roll at the moment.
What little wind we had died last night and we are back to motoring with the mizzen and staysail sheeted in tight as stabilizers. The fishing lines are out today but no strikes. We have seen very little sign of life the last couple of days so not overly hopeful of catching any fish. It doesn’t look like we are going to have any wind for sailing for another couple of days yet.
JC
