During the return leg from Bermuda I encountered some pretty heavy weather. At the point of losing control of the boat I decided to drop the main and deploy the drogue. Under normal conditions dropping the main would entail removing the main halyard from the sail, carefully walk it to the stern and while standing tip toe on the port jib winch, secure it to the end of the boom with the clumsy main halyard shackle. This is necessary to lift the boom off the bimini because my topping lift is not adjustable. Under the conditions of 45 knot + winds and total darkness an executive decision had to be made not to go overboard. I put the bungee preventer on the boom and let it trash itself, the solar panels and the bimini.
I mentioned above about losing control. I could not believe my eyes. At the chart table the little vessel on the GPS screen was spinning around like a top. Rubbing my tired eyes I ran up to the helm, looking down at my shiny new Ritchie compass it was also spinning FAST. The helm was locked hard over by the autopilot. I disengaged and centered the helm and started the engine. There was zero visibility. There was no point of reference. I shifted the transmission into forward and waited a second or two, the compass was still spinning. I throttled up half way. The boat was being tossed like a rag doll. I was falling off waves that I couldn't predict or see. The compass was still spinning FAST. This is where I dropped the main. I locked the helm shut the engine and scurried to the floor below deck.
At this point I thought the whole vessel was going to break apart. Wind speeds indicated 55 knots!!! I pulled the droge out of the rear quarter birth onto the floor next to me. I pulled it out of the sail bag and stared at the three red ties holding it together. How would this deploy? I read the directions that came with it briefly when It arrived from ebay. It was 2nd hand but never used. The directions had indicated you would nee
d a 15lb weight at the end. This had gone through my head a few times leading up to this point and I never fully addressed the thought. Before leaving the house I had two of my wifes 7lb dumbbells and a roll of electrical tape in my hand declared this wasn't necessary and put them down. Now I'm sitting on the floor contemplating how to attach a 2.5 Mercury outboard to the end when it hit me. You have a spare danforth anchor under the helm seat! Duh!!! I heaved the drogue up the ladder onto the cockpit floor and turned to take one last look at the warmly lit cabin. I seriously thought this may be the last time I would see it.
I scurried up the ladder and over the drogue to the floor behind the helm. grasping the red ties I heaved the drogue onto the floor next to me and identified the two bare ends. I couldn't stand up! The boat was violently falling off the waves. I had all I could to just to hold on. I said to myself all ends have to go out the same hole! That hole was through the ladder rungs. I passed each bare end through one at a time to the dock cleats. Seemed like the most secure attachment point to me. I then passed the thimble end through and back over the top of the rail. I opened the helm seat looked down at the anchor. I had secured it to the boat with a shackle that was looped to the threaded eye on the backstay bolt. That shackle fit perfectly through the thimballed end of the drogue! What a gift! Almost like I planned it without knowing. I tossed the anchor off the stern and to my astonishment watched it skip a few times. I was blowing across the water at 10 to 15 knots at this point! I fed the drogue out and before you know it I couldn't hold it any longer. It pulled out of my hands and was disappearing into the dark sea like a runaway anchor. In a panic moment I lepet out from behind the helm fearing getting pulled overboard and braced myself in the companionway. As the last of the droge went overboard I saw the cleated ends of the bridal tension like a guitar string. The boat immediately responded sending me stern up the invisible waves. The gravity of rising up the waves bucked my knees and I lowered myself to the floor. Pushing my way through the sea of water bottles, garbage and everything else that hadn't been secured I rolled onto my back and looked up at the GPS. The little boat stopped spinning! Boat speed dropped to 0 to 2 knots and the wind speed was screaming!!!
At this point I called the coast guard back and let them know I was doing better. I was 400 miles from the US coast and 250 from Bermuda. There wasn't much they could do except keep track of my EPIRB position. There was a 1000 foot container ship they had contacted but he was pretty far off. I declined assistance. Are you sure? Yes I'm sure. It was 3 am at this point and the winds were increasing. I layed on the floor looking up at the mast. The rigging was humming louder and louder. The wood shims started to bust apart and fall onto the floor. Now the mast was banging around inside the metal ring that surrounds it. I said oh boy. this thing is going to snap... I got on the radio and called for that 1000 foot container ship. He was aware of my position and was set on his course. He assured me that the storm was moving out fast and the worst for me would be over soon. I held forth and assured myself that all would be better in a few hours at dawn.
Big Thank you to the US Coast Guard and the NAVY for keeping tabs on my location and weather conditions. According to the satellite weather the winds hit 70mph. I saw 55 knots on the instruments but I stopped looking when the shit really hit the fan!
I mentioned above about losing control. I could not believe my eyes. At the chart table the little vessel on the GPS screen was spinning around like a top. Rubbing my tired eyes I ran up to the helm, looking down at my shiny new Ritchie compass it was also spinning FAST. The helm was locked hard over by the autopilot. I disengaged and centered the helm and started the engine. There was zero visibility. There was no point of reference. I shifted the transmission into forward and waited a second or two, the compass was still spinning. I throttled up half way. The boat was being tossed like a rag doll. I was falling off waves that I couldn't predict or see. The compass was still spinning FAST. This is where I dropped the main. I locked the helm shut the engine and scurried to the floor below deck.
At this point I thought the whole vessel was going to break apart. Wind speeds indicated 55 knots!!! I pulled the droge out of the rear quarter birth onto the floor next to me. I pulled it out of the sail bag and stared at the three red ties holding it together. How would this deploy? I read the directions that came with it briefly when It arrived from ebay. It was 2nd hand but never used. The directions had indicated you would nee
I scurried up the ladder and over the drogue to the floor behind the helm. grasping the red ties I heaved the drogue onto the floor next to me and identified the two bare ends. I couldn't stand up! The boat was violently falling off the waves. I had all I could to just to hold on. I said to myself all ends have to go out the same hole! That hole was through the ladder rungs. I passed each bare end through one at a time to the dock cleats. Seemed like the most secure attachment point to me. I then passed the thimble end through and back over the top of the rail. I opened the helm seat looked down at the anchor. I had secured it to the boat with a shackle that was looped to the threaded eye on the backstay bolt. That shackle fit perfectly through the thimballed end of the drogue! What a gift! Almost like I planned it without knowing. I tossed the anchor off the stern and to my astonishment watched it skip a few times. I was blowing across the water at 10 to 15 knots at this point! I fed the drogue out and before you know it I couldn't hold it any longer. It pulled out of my hands and was disappearing into the dark sea like a runaway anchor. In a panic moment I lepet out from behind the helm fearing getting pulled overboard and braced myself in the companionway. As the last of the droge went overboard I saw the cleated ends of the bridal tension like a guitar string. The boat immediately responded sending me stern up the invisible waves. The gravity of rising up the waves bucked my knees and I lowered myself to the floor. Pushing my way through the sea of water bottles, garbage and everything else that hadn't been secured I rolled onto my back and looked up at the GPS. The little boat stopped spinning! Boat speed dropped to 0 to 2 knots and the wind speed was screaming!!!
At this point I called the coast guard back and let them know I was doing better. I was 400 miles from the US coast and 250 from Bermuda. There wasn't much they could do except keep track of my EPIRB position. There was a 1000 foot container ship they had contacted but he was pretty far off. I declined assistance. Are you sure? Yes I'm sure. It was 3 am at this point and the winds were increasing. I layed on the floor looking up at the mast. The rigging was humming louder and louder. The wood shims started to bust apart and fall onto the floor. Now the mast was banging around inside the metal ring that surrounds it. I said oh boy. this thing is going to snap... I got on the radio and called for that 1000 foot container ship. He was aware of my position and was set on his course. He assured me that the storm was moving out fast and the worst for me would be over soon. I held forth and assured myself that all would be better in a few hours at dawn.
Big Thank you to the US Coast Guard and the NAVY for keeping tabs on my location and weather conditions. According to the satellite weather the winds hit 70mph. I saw 55 knots on the instruments but I stopped looking when the shit really hit the fan!
-
43656.jpeg -
43658.jpeg
