Dec. 16th we enter the harbor around 0710 and were tied up at Baja Naval's long dock by 0715. So many things to be thankful for. Dock was empty so we were first in line to haul out. I should let Al write today's blog but he is busy with important things so I'll give you my version of last night.
Just after sunset we had a nice steak tip and veggie stew from Costco that you just heat the bag it comes in boiling water. BTW Judy we served it steaming hot in Sundowners teak bowls. Perfect large deep bowls that don't burn your hands even though the contents were steaming.
At 1800 Al and I began alternating 3hour watches through out the night starting with me. Winds were light coming from astern hard to keep the sails filled but it was pleasant with an occasional large swell off our aft quarter. By 2400 the wind had picked up with gusts over 27 kts and moved forward. We were south of the Coronado Islands sailing close to the wind on a port tack and time for me to go on watch. Al and I had a "discussion" about reefing the main before he retired. Al was at the main mast preparing to put the first reef in when we heard a loud bang and the main boom dropped about a foot now held but by the topping lift. Al is on the deck with the halyard in his hand. He thought the halyard winch slipped. The bang was familiar. We had heard that loud bang once before going down the coast of Baja with Jim Morgan on board when the steel deck plate and pad eye that the roller furling attaches to sheered off so we knew that kind of BANG means BAD. Al looked up and saw top of the mast bending way to starboard and with a quick look around saw the port main & intermediate shroud's chain plate parted. Al says "a fire drill followed that resulted in no injuries and no loss of of masts." I call it CHAOS! Everything happens so fast and the wind, engine and sails flapping are so loud.
We are thankful that we have a bat car system that drops the main sail in seconds. Al had it down before I even got the boat completely into the wind. He still had to get the Genoa down but the furling line seemed to be caught on something. It runs though a fitting on the (what else?) chain plate that is now flying around In mid air. In the meantime trying to keep Chez Nous into the wind I accidentally back winded the genoa for a moment which does keep pressure off the mast but only adds to the chaos. Time sort of stands still. The mast (40 year old spruce) is back to straight , Al is securing the broken plate and shrouds so they stop flying around and I go back on course finally able to breath a sigh of relief and to appreciate the beauty of the black silhouette of the Coronado island backlit by the twinkling city lights of San Diego, TJ and Rosarito all running together like the huge megalopolis that it is. One could compared that to us , so small and so alone out there in the cold dark scary night but let's not. By 2430 Al was snuggled into the aft bunk close enough for me to call him though the hatch if I needed help. I'm thankful to Al for restoring order to chaos. The rest of my watch I had to alter course once to avoid a couple of fishing boats and I called Al up once to talk to the coast guard who were questioning all south bound vessels as to their intent. By 0300 the temp continued to drop but not the wind. Al confessed it was 30kts around 0400.
Climbing out of a warm bunk at 0600 I was glad that Al had made a fresh pot of coffee to enjoy after a long cold night. We enjoyed a peaceful thankful morning discussing how fortunate we are that the plate failed before we were out cruising in some remote area and very thankful that we didn't lose the rig. Thankful also to be together watching the beautiful shore lights and sun rise over the hills of Ensenada.
We arrived right on time 0715 and were first boat on the long dock at Baja Naval and first to be haul out. This was to be a little shakedown cruise 140km to Ensenada to work out any bugs, for bottom paint, to get Mexican paperwork in order and an out of the water survey. Baja Naval is currently working on new chain plates to replace all 6 forward ones. Here a picture of the metal failure.
Haul out always goes well here and great to revisit old friends at Baja Naval. Took care of paperwork and got started on repair plans. Jim Wallace met us for the survey and then gave us a ride home to work on landscaping projects.
