The club is having an open house for the sailing school, so I volunteered big Still Time to take some members of the public out for a quick sail around the race course. So little Still Time went out with skipper Melissa, John, and Chris. Nobody showed up for a free sail, so Rita and I went out with the big boat to watch the action.
Winds were forecast for 5-7 knots from the WSW.
Course was predictably 3 short.
The 22 went out will full main and #1 genoa.
Rita and I hung back of the start line, and watched the first start, awesome!
Little Still Time absolutely nailed their start!
We followed under motor the fleet up to the windward mark.
It is amazing how fast and in control all of our racers are!
Still Time was fourth of 5 at the windward mark, not to far behind the two Sharks.
Here is a great shot of the 22 on the first downwind leg:
Just look at the sail shape! Look at how the main exactly mirrors the genoa! Great Job!
They were getting closer to the Shark near the end of the 2nd downwind leg.
At the leeward mark turning to go upwind to the finish, they had some trouble getting the genoa sheeted in, and it looked like they forgot to put tension on the backstay to go upwind for pointing.
Something was not right, and Melissa realized that forestay had come undone and nothing was holding up the mast except from the luff of the genoa, and the lower shrouds! She smartly decided to withdraw from the race, and turn the boat downwind. This was a good call, and probably saved the mast from coming down and going overboard!
I quickly radioed them, and told them to drop the head sail, and firm up the mast with the jib halyard.
I gunned the motor on the 34 and there was a TERRIBLE grinding noise coming from the motor. With the boat throttled back, no more noise. Got Rita on the helm and I dug underneath the rear cabin cushions to expose where the prop shaft connects to the transmission.
There was all kinds of shredded metal, and the prop shaft was spinning on the transmission flange. Looks like the key in the prop shaft had sheared off!
We babied the motor back into our slip. I should be able to get a replacement key and fix it without taking the boat out of the water. Hopefully the prop shaft and its keyway is not damaged, which would mean hauling the boat out for repair!
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| You can see how the clevis pin was missing on the top of the forestay turnbuckle |
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| Melissa and Chris putting the boat away. |
A DNF is better than an DNC (or a DFL!)
Not a good night for the Still Times, but it could have been worse.
Could have lost the mast, ripped a sail, and maybe someone could have gotten hurt.
I am glad the 34's issue showed up now and not when we were cruising later this summer!
Too bad we didn't have the big camera with us (missed a lot of kewl photo ops)
Little Still Time
Trip Odometer: 11.78 miles
Moving Average: 5.4 knots!
Moving Time: 02:09:55
Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150624-22.kmz
Big Still Time
Trip Odometer: 7.93 miles
Moving Average: 4.5 knots
Moving Time: 01:45:00
Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2015/20150624-34.kmz
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