Ken Gourlay Circumnavigation - Pt 7

Desperate Times

Day 105 turned out to be my worst day so far of the trip.

I had some rain squalls go through and when they were gone, I decided to do my rigging check. Everything that was done yesterday seemed quite OK, but then I started to check the other rigging and found that, this time, the D1 next to the work that I did yesterday had three broken strands. How can it be? What's the rest of the rig like? What does this mean? My log entry reflected my desperation and frustration.

There was no option but to climb the mast again and with more spectra, give the D1 a backup if it were to break with a spectra replacement. I was really starting to hate these mast-climbing sessions. The fact that you have no spare hands or feet to fend off or hold on to something to stop you swinging wildly, just meant that your body bumped against everything and you were bruised particularly around the arms and shoulders. I turned the boat for Brazil and reduced sail. I climbed up beside the mast this time and thought that I could use it and the sail for support. It didn't take long to thread a few laps of spectra through the deck fitting so I could then connect another six strands of 10mm through that. Again this would have the strength of about 20 tonnes.

I had started to descend and on a particular roll of the boat, I lost my grip and swung around bumping into the sail. I just let this happen as it was not too violent and I expected the sail to stop my swing. It didn't and I felt myself go straight through my mainsail backwards with a terrible tearing sound. I knew instantly what had happened.

My heart sank. How could this be? I continued my descent, did what I had to do to with the new spectra D1 and headed back to the cockpit.

DOWN IN THE DUMPS
This is without doubt the lowest I had felt in the trip. This was a real downer. I could see the trip falling apart in front of me. Surely there was something wrong with the sail; it was rotting from UV exposure. I didn't hit it that hard and it was only with my back. It's not like I started the tear with something sharp. I took a photo to send home and decided that I would have to put four reefs in the mainsail so it didn't get any worse.

With my rigging reduced to rope on one side and the mainsail torn possibly beyond repair, it was all pretty grim and quite overwhelming. I felt lousy. There was almost no wind to speak of and to make matters worse we were not going anywhere either. How low can I go?

I decided to let them know at home so I sent the photo home and a message telling them what had happened. I knew they would also feel my pain and suffering. There would be few laughs at home tonight.

FRIENDS INDEED
After the email goes out, any waiting to come in, is then uploaded. There was an email on my fundraising which told me of a donation from a sailing friend and his work colleagues. They had gone for something like 10 years without a lost day from an injury and Aurora, their employer, had given them a bonus of $2500.

They had donated their entire bonus to my fundraising for the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust. This just cracked me right up. Here were these guys who had gone for 10 years to earn this and then donated it all to medical research for children. On top of my problems this made me an emotional wreck.  It really affected me and it was quite a while before I got myself straight again.  How could I let them down? They had supported me and I felt so much strength from this - it picked me up. I looked at it all in a new light. Somehow I had to find a way through. Again I had time on my side so I started the think process.  By morning I had a plan of attack. I will fix the sail and the rig now. We are going on and we can beat these problems.

I had examined my options. If I could rearrange the wire rigging so that I had wire on the most important places, the rig would have the best chance of surviving.  The D1 on the starboard side was the same size wire as the V1 which had the strands break on the port side. It was about 200mm shorter, but if I used heaps of spectra there, then it would mean that I had wire going all up one side and down the other. This would give me a rig almost back to design specifications.  The D1s are diagonal supports that go into the mast just below the first spreaders and stabilises the lower section of the mast. If these were spectra, I thought, I could control their tension and hence their support for the rig. This would mean that three out of my four wire stays would either be rope or have a section of rope in them. Now, the trouble facing me was that I needed some smooth water as I would have to disconnect the stays for a period of time on the port side while I put the D1 in as a V1.

The nearest island was Isle de Trinidade, 200 nautical miles back the way I had come and farther over to the Brazilian coast. There was no other option but to turn the boat around and head there. Spirit would be sailing dead downwind so it would be a very slow trip. I estimated two days. At 0830 on February 16, Spirit came around and headed to the island. With progress so slow, it gave me a perfect chance to make as good a repair as possible on the mainsail. I pulled it down and took it off the mast, spreading it over the cabin top. The tear was in the shape of a T. It was about 1200mm across the top and a metre top to bottom. Once I had done one side I did the same to the other. The sticky back was never meant to repair a tear of such magnitude, so I did the best possible job that I could and just hoped that it would suffice. Back on the mast the mainsail went and when I pulled it up, I was quietly happy that I had done the best job possible. While the sail was down I examined the cloth and to my horror found that the cloth was so easy to tear. There was very little strength left in the cloth. It was rotted. How long it would last I was yet to see.

At daybreak, I could see the island and by 1000 hours it was only 10nm off. I went up around the northern side and could see the settlement houses. This is the nominated anchorage, but with the southeast trade winds it is exposed.  That's one option gone.

QUE?
The settlement is inhabited by volunteer Brazilian Army personnel. I thought that I had better notify them of my intention. The radio operator could not speak English and I had no Portuguese - so much for that idea. Shortly afterwards the radio came to life. They had found someone with some English.

Because I would have the port V1 stay disconnected for a short period of time, it was important that the mast was supported to stop it from falling over the side as the boat rolls from side to side. I connected three unused halyards to the toerail on the port side and tensioned them up.

It was back to the solo sailor's mast-climbing harness and the pain associated with it. I climbed back up level with the bottom spreaders and tried to extricate the split pin to remove the pin. It just wouldn't come. It was badly bent and with one arm around the spreaders to stop me swinging around out of control, I battled with it for 25 minutes. My upper arm was getting badly bruised from the spreaders and no matter how I tackled the problem; it would just not extract more than halfway. I forced it back in and tried to straighten it yet again. Finally, with two hands on the pliers and no hands on the spreaders, I used the swinging motion of the waves to load up the pressure till it came out. I fumbled the pin as it freed and dropped it in the ocean below. Luckily I had brought up a spare with me. It didn't take me long to slip the new stay on and put in the pin.

I became aware of the mast moving alarmingly. I looked up and the three halyards that I had put on had just too much stretch in them over their length.  Panic stations. The bend in the mast was frightening. I had no way of supporting the mast more from up here. I had lowered the old stay back down to the deck. I just had to get down to the deck as quickly as possible and disconnect the old V1 and reconnect the new stay in its place. I started the long, slow process of moving the jammer and lowering myself. The old story of the faster I tried to go the slower I went. If I tried to move the jammer too far then I couldn't release the one underneath so I would have to move the top one back up a little bit. The boat seemed to either increase its rolling or I became more aware of it. I was on the verge of panic.

In an instant I saw a horrible scenario. The mast breaks and goes over the side.  I'm connected to the top of the mast by the halyard and over the side I go with it.  There would be no way that I could get out of the harness and back to the surface. I would be pinned six metres down. I put all my energies into keeping my mind on the job of coming down this mast. I couldn't panic. I immediately grabbed the bottom of the stay and lashed it to the chain plate. I had made it. I just sat on the deck feeling sick. 

The rig tensioned up beautifully. I took some more tension up on the starboard V1 and made sure that the mast section was straight. I twitched up the starboard D1 so that it was tight and also the port one. The mast section was straight and supported well. It was just time to get away from the island and its memories.

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 6
» Ken Gourlay Pt 8
» Ken Gourlay Pt 9
» Ken Gourlay Pt 10