Ouch & Good-bye!

Nain, Labrador

August 23, 2011

Fog is laying over Nain and shrouding Mt. Sophie in its whiteness.  The locals say no planes will land or take off until you can see the mountaintop.  Debbie’s set to fly out this morning and we’ve been crossing fingers that the fog’ll lift and she can make her connections back to Maine. 

Tied up along the wharf we were down below enjoying our last few moments as a crew of 3.   Our chitchat was rudely interrupted by a sharp clank sound and a lurch.  Had we hit bottom on an out-going tide?  Somehow banged up against the wharf in a weird way?  All three of us clambered on deck to figure it out and it took a few minutes for our brains to process what our eyes were seeing.

Remember those derricks I mentioned in the “Fish Plant Etiquette” entry?  And remember how I mentioned that you should make sure you’re out of the way of said derrick?  Goes to show we should read our own blog more often.

This particular derrick wasn’t secured.  The boom arm that swings out was not restrained in any way from swinging out.  We’d been fine until the wind shifted causing the arm to swing out and the tide lowered so it was just under the spreader.  That sickening lurch was Andante rocking, on a boat wake probably, and the boom arm bashing the spreader up and leaving it with a strange bend when it should be straight. 

The spreaders are the cross pieces that come out from the mast.  Wire leads from the top of the mast, through the end of the spreaders and down to the deck.  Another set of wires leads from the top of the mast to the bowsprit and aft .  All are attached at the bottom with heavy plates.  The purpose of this web is to support the mast by tensioning it in place.  If say you’re sailing along and something happens to one of those wires the result could be your mast bends and falls into the ocean.  Not a comforting image.

First order of business was to move Andante so it wouldn’t get any worse.  We got re-tied at the same moment Debbie’s ride arrived.  The fog had lifted!  We met Brian, a resident of Nain through his blog and he’d offered to check on the flight status and give Debbie a ride to the airport.  Quick hugs and the sadness of parting was lost in what we were going to do about our mast. 

I admit my first thought was who can we call that can fix this!  Kind of strange since we’ve always done all of the work ourselves but I think I panicked a little.  It was getting late in the season and we really needed to be making tracks south.  Andante wasn’t going anywhere in her wounded state.

We did put a call into a local “guy that can fix anything” and I trooped off to do some internet business.  By the time I came back, Russ and Mick had it under control. After some debate they decided pounding wood wedges into the hollow spreader would serve the double purpose of straightening it and reinforcing it. We’d just leave the wedges in place and be on our way.  It worked! 

It’s the oldest of cruising lessons - necessity is the mother of invention.