So, every agrees fixing the mast shouldn’t be a problem–new dutchman, maybe some penetrating epoxy–but not a total system failure. The shipwrights and ancient mariners seem united is their assessment of our condition: They’ve seen worse…
The greater question is no longer “how are going to fix this?” but “how do we get it down to fix?”
Suffice it to say that the sail home was difficult, lumpy and cold, but nothing unusual for Puget Sound in the fall until we noticed this:
those bolts should be holding the sprit to the deck
Funny, it wasn’t like that when we left. But the bounce in the rigging it created led us to noticing this:
that crack can't be good...
That’s the second spreader on the main mast with a big crack below it. It is hard to know if shattering the knightshead and pulling the bowsprit out of the deck is a cause or effect of the crack, but it is clearly not right. We dropped sails immediately and called the Coast Guard.
But we were also still several hours from home and the resources to fix this if it came down dramatically. So we called the Coast Guard every 30 minutes to update our position and let them know we were well. They waited for our call, ready to push the Go!Help! button if we needed it.
We didn’t. It took a while, but by 8:30 we were all fast at our dock.
Ah Rosario. What a nice place. And after the woowoo at Deer Harbor the night before, how nice to get a call through and find out they are back in business AND that the marina and spa are still open for the season.
Unfortunately, we still wanted to visit Lieberhaven and check in with the Baxters and their boats, but now we were miles away. What to do?