Ken Gourlay Circumnavigation - Pt 6

Homeward bound

Day 92 is overcast with little wind. I am getting limited solar power, no wind power and I have the spinnaker up against my better judgment. With the sea state very sloppy and little wind, there is a real chance I could wrap the spinnaker around the forestay. That would not be great. To have to somehow climb up and get it free does not bare thinking about. I am only 46nm south of the equator and still 178nm east of the St Peter and St Paul Rocks, my turning point to head home.

The next day at 0755 hours Spirit and I crossed the equator. I had the mandatory crossing of the line ceremony in the costume bits that my loving wife Wendy had packed for me. I'm sure that Neptune would have been suitably impressed and I treated him to a tasting of some of my Moet champagne requesting a safe passage.

Conditions were very quiet so I decided that now was the time to have a swim and see if I could fit a collar around the top of the rudder and stop or slow the leaking rudder bearing seal. As it was so warm, there was no need to change my day clothes so I dropped the sails and tied them down just in case a breeze sprang up. I put a line out the back just in case my harness disconnected and I needed a safety net.

Although conditions were quiet it is amazing how violent it is underneath the stern of the boat. Immediately I found that the collar was too big in diameter.  There was very little gap between the rudder and the hull of the boat. I squeezed it in but I could not tie it around the back of the stock. I trimmed it off and thought I would give it a try, but I think that I knew it would not stay there for long. Progress was still painfully slow and Spirit was still only 83nm from the Rocks.

My first squall came through and the wind went from behind to in front. I had a shower and washed my clothes, towels and tea towels. I was even able to catch about 30lt of fresh water at the mainsail gooseneck.

All day the wind came and went from all directions. This went on through the night and there was no way I could get any sleep at all. I was closing in on the Rocks. A fog came down which added to the complications. Around midnight I finally picked up the Rocks on radar.

TURNING FOR HOME
At 0755 I turned the Rocks and headed for home. Unfortunately progress was almost non existent as there was no wind. The Rocks had been in fog the whole time so it looked as if I would not see them at all. The westerly current became evident as I tried to head south and I recorded my slowest days run ever at just 25nm. It was totally frustrating with sails up and down, and up and then down again soon after. Sometimes I would reef as deep as four reefs in these sorts of conditions just in an attempt to keep some sail up and stop the slating. I was really sailing from squall to squall. This was really wearing me down and I needed sleep but the Rocks were still too close. I only saw St Peter and St  Paul Rocks on the radar.

Day 96 was better progress and Spirit made 134nm, but, unfortunately, the rig continued to be a big problem. It appears that the spectra rope is creeping and returning the load back to the wire stay. I have broken another strand. So it's back up the mast to put some more spectra on to support the rig and share the load. By creeping, I mean, it seems to loose its tension after a while. If I can share the load then this problem should not be so great. I have reduced sail to No. 4 headsail and four reefs in the mainsail to also lessen the load on the stays. If I called in somewhere for assistance, then there would always be questions unanswered in my mind. Did I take the easy option? Would I have made it home?

Again I climbed the mast in my Top Climber and connected more spectra to the stay. The affected stay was the V1. This is the first vertical stay that goes from the deck to the first spreader. The strands are breaking at the swage at the bottom of the V1. The spectra now totaled 2 x 12mm and 1 x 10mm lines which had a total strength of about 49 tonnes. Surely that would take the load even if the stay broke.

My first attempt at the rudder collar was unsuccessful and with conditions quiet I knew now was the time to have another go. This time I just rolled a piece of towel up to about the size of a pencil and attached some light line so that I could tie it off. I again went over the side, again with all the safety precautions. I dreaded the thought of treading water as Spirit sailed away just faster than swimming speed. Again the waves at the stern made the job horrible. There's nothing to hold down there to keep you there or to brace yourself against the heaving boat. I got the collar exactly where it had to go and climbed back on board satisfied that it would be worth all the effort.

WILL THE RIGGING LAST?
My morale needed a win. I was sailing slowly and the problems were weighing heavy on me. There was so little sail up and the winds were so light that we were hardly going any speed at all. There would be much greater loads on the rig in the Southern Ocean than this and if it was all going to collapse, then better here than there. It is time that I put a bigger headsail back up and picked up the pace a bit. I didn't really care how long it took to get home, I just wanted to get there unassisted and non-stop. That was more important to me than speed in the end.  I did want the record, but if something had to be sacrificed then the record could go. Records come and go. Whatever I set would get beaten, but the satisfaction and achievement of the trip would stay with me forever.

I had another option open to me and that was to take off a D1 and put that in the place of the breaking V1. The D1 is the other stay which is connected to the deck and goes diagonally into the mast at the bottom spreader. This stay braces the mast lower down. This stay is about 200mm shorter than the V1 but I could lace it to the chain plate with many wraps of spectra. To do this job I would need very still water as I would have to disconnect the V1 stay from the mast and that would mean that the mast was unsupported while I reconnect the new one. For this I would require very smooth water so that the boat was not rolling, otherwise, loosing the mast would be a real possibility. Cape Town would be the best place for this - I could sail in and out of the bay as it was big enough to get away from the ocean swells.

Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Day 98 and the temperatures were still incredibly hot at 37ºC in the shade. My suntan was looking pretty good now. With a steady breeze, although it was light, I decided to see just how well Spirit would balance and sail herself. I locked the wheel, and with very small adjustments of the sheets and the wheel I found that she would sail for half an hour at times and then only need assistance because a wave had knocked her off course.

VELUX 5 OCEANS
The Velux 5 Oceans round-the-world yacht race was on and the first competitors were entering the South Atlantic Ocean. They would be sailing up past me as I sailed south. I didn't want to bump into them so I started to send my midday position to the race organisers. They in turn sent me the leader's position so that I knew where he was. I was finally starting to feel the effect of the Brazil Current. My day's runs lifted and were 167, 168, 166 and 156nm. I celebrated the runs with a beer and nuts in the cockpit at 5pm.

With the nights still warm I was sleeping in the cockpit. This was just a beautiful thing to do. Lay back and watch the stars and satellites. I had been technically sailing to windward for a week now and as long as the wind didn't get up too strong, the cockpit was much more pleasant than the stuffy cabin. I was still watching the loads on the rig and now starting to plot my course down to the South Atlantic High.

One night, I got all poetic and my email the next day reflected this:

Not many people can claim that they have to sit up in bed every 20 minutes to make sure they are not hit by a ship, or that they are clipped onto their bed with a safety harness.

ONE MAN'S JOURNEY
Ken Gourlay's book One Man's Journey is now available for $29.95 plus $8 for package and handling.

The book can be purchased by visiting Ken's new website http://www.kengourlay.net/ or by phone on 0417 366 612.

Gourlay's, circumnavigation has raised $130,000 for the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust, which has been established to facilitate the creation of a 'world class' medical research institution in Northern Tasmania.

He was Tasmania's representative and finalist for this year's Australian of the Year Award won by country music singer Lee Kernaghan.

To read more on the Ken Gourlay adventure, follow the links below:
» Ken Gourlay Pt 1
» Ken Gourlay Pt 2
» Ken Gourlay Pt 3
» Ken Gourlay Pt 4
» Ken Gourlay Pt 5
» Ken Gourlay Pt 7
» Ken Gourlay Pt 8
» Ken Gourlay Pt 9
» Ken Gourlay Pt 10