The racing season ended a little early for us today - we were dismasted.

The race report says it was blowing 35kts - just into a F8. This was rather
more than the F4-5 the sailing forecast had said, and it felt like it. We
had already had a few knockdowns where I had been in a good position
(foredeck) to see the angle that the mast was making with the horizon - I
noted one 80 degree knockdown and two 70's. We were out with a working jib
and one reef in the main. Conditions were a little rough - there was a 4-5ft
swell, and the wind was SW against a west-going spring tide passing through
the narrows in an estuary. Only 5 boats out of 12 finished our race. I
noticed someone else had a torn main.

Just before the mast went, we were having trouble tacking to get to a mark -
it was as if we didn't have enough forward speed to get the boat to come
round, too much heel and too much sideways motion. I was splitting my time
between being on the foredeck, straddling the spinnaker pole, ready to
escort the genny round, and getting back to the rail to put some weight up
when it was clear that we had no helm control and needed to reduce heel to
try and get forward motion. It took us three or four goes to get from port
tack to starboard. I remember thinking that we were at the limit of
sailability. We hadn't reduced canvas sufficiently and were just getting
blown flat.

So, we were hard on the wind, heading for the mark, sitting on the rail,
when the windward lower shroud gave way at the top. There was no bang that I
recall, I noticed an unfamiliar movement to my side, looked round and saw
the base of the mast tipping away and the mast step becoming visible. It was
very fast - the mast was probably down and in the water within two or three
seconds.

It looks like the mast collapsed in the middle when the lower shroud was no
longer working. It folded and fell over into the water with a 45 degree bend
in it. One end of the spinnaker pole was snapped off - it mounts at an angle
against the mast and down to a wooden locater block on the foredeck. The
locater block got pulled off, one end of the mounting collar for the
spreaders has vanished, and the masthead light floated away. The boltrope
got pulled out of the main at the mast bend and the sail suffered some
tearing.

Nobody was hurt and nobody panicked. The helm said, "oh well", and held his
position while the three crew set about getting things under control with
his guidance. (None of the crew have experienced a dismasting before, but
this was number three for the helm.) One crew was ready to cut the gear
loose, but the helm reckoned it was recoverable. First, we got the boom off
and stashed it below - had to cut the outhaul to expedidte this. Then
managed to get the outboard end of the mast lashed to the port quarter - it
was lucky that the bend was such that the masthead was close to the side of
the boat - just had to lean out and grab a line. With that secured, I could
unclip the jib halyard to allow the jib to be pulled down through its
forestay foil and stashed in the foredeck locker. We had a look at getting
the main off the mast, but found that it wasn't for moving due to being
snagged up in the bent mast, so we manhandled the whole shebang onto the
boat - the lower part of the mast was across the boat, with the top part
lashed to the quarter.

With the recovery done and all lines clear of the water, we motored back
about a mile to the marina. One of the other boats in our race - Magic
Moment - retired and held station while we sorted ourselves out, and then
escorted us back, so special thanks to them for keeping an eye on us. And
thanks, too, to the welcoming committee waiting at the pontoon to help us
sort the mess out before we headed for the bar.

We had a look at the end of the shroud, and our feeling is that it came out
of the swage rather than snapping. The ends didn't look stretched to me, and
the lack of a bang (or violent movement) would seem to support this. Another
thing is that the shrouds have been feeling slacker than usual - there was
comment last week. Apparently, the helm and one crew had tightened them a
little today, before the other two crew arrived in the morning. We reckon
that the lower had already been sliding out of the swage, and finally packed
in when faced with the heavy winds today.

Damn. There goes the rest of my sailing season. I'm going to try and get a
job on one the dinghy racing rescue boats...


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk