I was a watch captain on a Chance 54 named "Glory" for the 1982 Vic-Maui. One dark and stormy night in tropical storm reinforced trade winds (+-30 AWS with gusts higher) we were just barely able to carry a spinnaker with only the occasional spin out.
After a spin out that rolled the owner out of the bunk he stated, clearly, that if I did not take that helmsman off the wheel he "hoped I brought my checkbook" meaning I would be held financially responsible for damage. I did not remove "Doc" from the wheel because it was the wind and sea conditions and none of us on deck could do much better at keeping the shiny side up. So, we make it to the end of our watch with nothing broken and my checkbook intact. Its 3AM and the watch coming on deck thought maybe we should stay up in case the spinnaker needed to be taken down. The new driver was the "rockstar" sailmaker onboard and seemed to indicate maybe we should leave the spinny up as "he" had it handled. A few moments later he total loses the plot, goes by the lee and broached deep, so deep that he, holding onto the wheel was flipped into the low side cockpit filled with nice warm Pacific ocean. In this particular type of leeward broach the main becomes backwinded. Now, here is the connection to having a preventer: On Glory we had a block and tackle prevent rigged to a pad eye also used for the spinnaker guy. During the leeward broach, mainsail backwinded and fully loaded, the preventer fails, likely where it was attached to the deck, possibly the snap shackle. The block and tackle lines (falls?) tangled in the "coffee grinder" handle and prevents the main from gybing by holding it firmly amidships. The boat is pinned, mast nearly touching the larger waves, most of the crew dangling from our tethers or standing on something normally vertical (winch drums etc). My self and my watch mates, pre-broach were sitting in the mid-cockpit close to the coffee grinders. The preventer caught up in the winch handle was right above my head. I got out my Buck sailing knife, got as low as I could and still reach the tangled line and just touched it with the blade. A light touch was all that was needed on a line that close to its breaking strength. As the main was freed it swung down to leeward and the boat popped back upright. Now of course the Rockstar helmsman guy was still disoriented from his gravity enhanced rotation and had no idea where the rudder was pointing. As the sails, both main and spinnaker popped full the boat accelerated for a few lengths then went full banana split and rounded down. This time nothing got tangled and it was a fairly normal spin out. Once the boat was back under control and it seemed safe to stick his head out of the cabin the owner said "OK boys its time to take the spinnaker down". We spent the next 12 hours under twin headsails waiting for a to return to "brochure" trade wind conditions. Martin Calypso 1971 C&C 43 Seattle ________________________________ From: CnC-List [[email protected]] on behalf of Gary Nylander via CnC-List [[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2016 2:07 PM To: [email protected] Cc: Gary Nylander Subject: Re: Stus-List Preventer But, if you hadn’t had that preventer, you may have lost your (old cast) gooseneck. Don’t ask how I know. Gary Nylander 30-1
_______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you like what we do, please help us pay for our costs by donating. All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
