Yesterday at 6:30 am local time (UTC-4) the wind went from 5-8 kts back to the mid 20 kts and we were again managing positive VMG despite still being on a Northerly course slamming into heavy seas. In the afternoon I was reading in the aft cabin when I was startled by a loud bang so I rushed up into the pilot house where the crew were also wondering what had caused that noise. We soon noticed that the genoa (large headsail), which had been very reefed down due to the heavy conditions, was now fully deployed and we could see why from the pilothouse – the genoa furling line had broke up near the bow – we could see the frayed ends of the pared lines.
With the wind in the mid 20s and squalls on the horizon, we needed to get that sail back under control asap. With all of the genoa out, Nakee was now plunging into 3 meter waves, which were breaking over the bow and swamping the foredeck, sometimes also the pilothouse windows.
For the first time since my November 2023 passage from the UK across the Bay of Biscay to the Canaries, I put on my waterproof boots, full foul weather gear (“foulies”) and life jacket along with the rest of the crew. I then crawled up through the breaking waves to the bow to try and figure out how and why the line broke and how to get the sail back under control.
This was not the first time this has happened and I am rather positive the culprit is chafe caused by the angle of deflection being to great at one or more of the Garhauer fairlead / blocks installed on the stanchions. The stainless steel edges of these Garhauer blocks/fairleads, through which the furling line runs, are rather sharp. Their advantage is that they allow the furling lines to be led outside of the stanchions and lifelines, giving more space on the side decks and reducing trip hazards.
To get the situation under control I pulled the broken furling line back through all the Garhauer fairleads/block aft to the cockpit, through a low friction ring and through a clutch. I then took the broken furling line forward, not through any of the blocks / fairleads but around the outside of the midship mooring cleat, and further forward through the waves breaking over the deck to the genoa furling drum where I tied the two ends of the broken furling line together in a reef (square) knot. I led that line around the cleat as it would otherwise ride over the pilothouse windows in a straight line from the bow to the furling winch in the cockpit.
I then had the crew in the cockpit furl the genoa away using the electric furling winch. The reef knot slipped around the midship cleat, but that knot would have jammed in the first fairlead if I hadn’t removed it from them first. Once the genoa was furled, I used a short piece of line to tie off the tack of the sail to the pulpit so it wouldn’t accidents unfurl again with my fingers inside the drum trying to get the broken furling line out of it. With the furler secured, I removed the broken furling line from the drum, retreated to the cockpit and deployed the staysail to get Nakee moving again while we worked out what to do next.
Luckily the long end of the broken furling line, (which was originally a halyard that I’d replaced with a larger diameter halyard and thankfully kept around as a spare), appeared to be possibly just long enough to be re-used, but we wouldn’t know for sure until the frayed ends were repaired, it was reinstalled on the furling drum and the genoa was fully unfurled.
I got out the hot knife (used to cut Dynema lines), electric extension cord, cutting board and electrical tape, brought them to the cockpit (none of this easy in a heavy seaway) and cleaned up the frayed ends of the broken furling line.
To try and avoid the same chafe problem happening yet again, I got tools and crawled back up to through the surf to the bow and removed the foremost Garhauer block/fairlead from the stanchion. Since I had previously installed Selden opening fairleads on the inside of the stanchions for the asymmetric spinnaker’s continuous loop furling line that weren’t being used, I lowered the one on the foremost stanchion and ran the genoa furling line through it and all of the other Selden fairleads, back to the clutch and furling winch. These Selden fairleads have the advantage of not having any sharp edges, meaning they can allow for large angles of deflection without chafe. Their disadvantage is that they can only be used on the inside of the stanchions, not the outside like the Garhauers.
Once back in the cockpit we carefully unfurled the genoa and were relieved to see that we did indeed have enough furling line to completely unfurl the Genoa. I then went back to the bow to inspect the run of the furling line, which was now under load, for chafe points. I found one – the furling line is now running over the cap shroud bottle screw. Back to the toolbox, back up on deck with a very large adjustable wrench, where I slightly tightened the bottle screw so the line runs over a smother part of the stainless steel bottle screw.
The Genoa is now furling and unfurling as it should, but this arrangement can only be temporary as the bottle screw is a potential chafe point and I don’t want the line to break in even worse conditions. I’m also out of spare furling lines and we still have 1,414 nautical miles to go to get to Ponta Delgada and the chandelier there to buy replacements.
We will be suiting up to go forward to keep a close eye on that furling line looking for chafe. The wind is forecast to back around to the South East this afternoon, which would put us on a calmer beam reach course direct to the Azores rather than our current close-hauled Northerly course slamming into big waves.
When it gets calmer I will go forward and rethink how to reinstate some of the Garhauer blocks with no deflection in the run of the furling line, so I can get it back outside the stanchions and off that bottle screw. In the meantime fingers crossed that it does not break again.
Dang ! Dramatic adventure and challenges on the high seas ! I really felt the electricity of that tense episode — congratulations on your successful response. Sounds like a movie in the making!
Never a dull moment… Quite impressed, how you managed this treacherous moment(s). I hope that the South East will be more south than east, and that you make it through the 2nd half of the passage in a much more uneventful fashion. Good luck!