"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...
"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...

Just what, exactly, broke your boom, by the way? Certainly, a prudent
sailor would not have put themselves in the situation where force was
the cause, and any competant yachtsman would have noticed any incipient
failure due to degradation of hardware and remedied it before failure.

I was anchored in St. Augustine with a fellow single-hander who sails a
32-foot Allied SeaWind ketch. The wind was blowing half a gale out of the
northeast and we decided it would be a good day to sail to Miami just
inside the Stream current.

I was beating my way out the relatively narrow inlet, was about halfway
out the channel under working sail in very steep seas breaking on the bar
and the tack prior to the breakage the boom swung over to the other side
just as the bow slammed into a very steep sea almost stopping the boat
dead in her tracks. When the boom fetched up on the close-hauled
mainsheet which is attached to a traveler atop the coach roof the boom
broke in two goosewinging the mainsail where the aft boom bale (mid-boom
sheeting) was attached to it by four screws - two on either side. The
holes for the screws apparently weakened the boom enough in that area
that it allowed it to break there.

So, you're saying you don't do a regular review of your equipment to
notice weak spots, and that failure led to an equipment failure which
caused you to have to motor ignominiously back to the dock (or anchorage,
or mooring, whichever it was at the time) in "interesting" conditions...


Sorry, but I don't have a magnaflux machine on board to regularly inspect my
extrusions and standing rigging.


Oh, I forgot. You sailed back. Well, of course, in such winds, the jib or
genny was plenty to drive you home, and easier to douse when you're ready
to stop.

You got it. I simply came about and ran downwind under headsail and folded
mainsail till the first barrier island where I turned to port and anchored
under sail in the lee. No fuss no muss. I got underway the next day after
going into town to secure the necessary materials.


I'll still take your tour of the Keys...

I never said anything about a tour of the Keys. I believe I might have
mentioned showing you a real blue water cruiser and buying you a beer. I can
give you some local knowledge so maybe you can better stay off the reefs and
bars. lol


Wilbur Hubbard