It’s Monday, and we are in Karlskrona in the rain. I do like this place, and right at the head of our pontoon is a sweet bronze statue of Biskop Morski; the legend is that he was caught in a net and offered as a gift to the Polish king, who freed him when he made the sign of the cross. I like to shake his hand as I walk by.
We hadn’t planned to call in this time, but we had a major fail on our Genoa furler, and needed a few spare parts from the chandler.
It started a few days ago when we furled the genoa in a big wind, using the electric winch to control the furling line and stop the sail thrashing about too much. The furling rope is wrapped round a drum at the base of the sail multiple times, and when the rope is pulled, it unwinds, turning the drum, which in turn wraps the sail round itself multiple times and is very effective for packing the sail away.
But in the gale, the sail wrapped itself very tightly, so it needed more turns of the drum, and we didn’t have quite enough rope for that. Our mistake. As the rope came to the end of the line, the electric winch continued to pull, and broke the drum and bent the turning block.
None of this was visible at the time, but was revealed the next time that we tried to furl in a strong wind, and the furling line shredded and jammed on the bent block. Once in harbour, we dismantled the furling drum to replace the rope, and the damage to the drum was revealed. C’est la vie. Now we know. It could have been worse.
But of course these parts aren’t available in the chandlery, so we will limp on for the next few weeks and be careful with that winch!!
Is there no end to the ching ching in the chandlers’ cash registers this year?
Oucheddy ouch – thank goodness for our working lives and associated pensions. We are sharing similar weather with some rain almost every day and below par temperatures, whilst Lady M siblings swelter in the southerly jetstream track.