There can’t be that much to do, surely? Well, it depends. Bay Watch was called up early at 5 because a small hole seen in our code 2 spinnaker had begun to grow and we needed to repair it straight away. It’s amazing how quickly a small hole can grow into a tear across a panel, and then the whole seam goes. So, how did you get a small tear? It started yesterday when we saw a 20m length of 120mm marine fuel hose too late to avoid it and caught it around our keel and one rudder. Some amazing work by skipper Dan and Matthias enabled us to get hold of it, but then we wrapped the kite!
A large asymmetrical spinnaker is a sight to behold; beautiful when flying, and we now only have 2. They’re critical when racing with the wind to our side or behind us as it is in this leg. A wrap is when the kite collapses and falls against one or both of the forestays and wraps round it. We have a net that generally stops this, but in this occasion, that was fully involved in the wrap as well. Part of the spinnaker folds around the forestay forming an hourglass, then continues to roll around it into a tight bundle. This bundle is usually very difficult to pull down and doing so can lead to greater damage. Three hours later, the pipe is extracted and photographed and left to be rediscovered; unfortunately, too big for us to take. The spinnaker was unwrapped, then taken below to be wooled and re-flown. All told, we probably lost 10 miles due to our reduced speed. Wooled? Well, these sails are very big and, to avoid the wind filling them as we hoist them, we roll the sides in towards each other, a bit like the Mercedes three-pointed star, and tie them up with wool. Once hoisted, we pull the bottom apart, the wools snap, and the kite fills with air and we romp off😊 All this takes place down below along the companionways- a challenge as the sail is longer than the available space.
So when we saw the small hole, Dan decided it should come down to be repaired and we’d hoist the larger code 1 spinnaker. All went well and the team began patching down below. Dan decided we should gybe (change direction in such a way that the wind goes round behind us). We had minimum numbers on deck, and all seemed to go well until this spinnaker wrapped on its way round. On this occasion, though, we weren’t as fortunate, and ended up with a 3m tear across the bottom; both spinnakers now out of action! Large Yankee foresail then hoisted to keep speed up. The code 2 was soon back up, and the repairs on the code 1 undertaken. Another small hole was soon discovered, but on this occasion, the kite was taken down, Yankee up, kite repaired, re-wooled and flying again within an hour – a fantastic achievement, especially in the equatorial heat down below.
The next question was what might be causing the holes? Much of the work we do is preventative, so this was important. We believed it was from the wrap, but someone was put up the mast to check for anything that might be guilty; not me up the mast on this occasion.
Aside from all this we have our watch routine, keeping Polly sailing as fast as we can, in the right direction, cleaning heads (toilets) on each watch, together with emptying the bilges and grey tanks, making water, and mother watch feeding us. Oh, and getting a few hours of sleep in your off watch provided you’re not called on deck to drop a kite with a hole in it.