Location: 7° 59 N, 48° 29 W
Tuesday 12:00, 06.13.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on June 13 was 7° 59N, 48° 29W. We have gone 824 NM since Barbados and currently Cayenne is WSW at 300 NM, the mouth of the Amazon SSW at 450 and Natal 1140 NM to go. The wind is 080-090 at 12-15 and we are headed 135-140 at 5.5 knots. We have a full jib, full fore and two reefs in the main.

First the good news. Yesterday evening, Max our resident dingy racer/sailor experimented sailing the Maggie B with a fixed helm. We were sailing close hauled at 6.5 knots in 18-23 knots true wind in a 5-8′ swell with mixed waves. The Maggie B, without autopilot or anyone at the help, kept herself about 38-40 degrees off the relative wind, with a variation of only 5-6 degrees for two hours.

But then…. At about 10:30 on the moonlit night, I came on deck where Max had the watch. We were rather bounding along under full sail and she was seeming a bit over pressed. Literally just as Max said “Do you think I’m driving her too hard?” the block at the top of the main throat halyard let go with a bang and down came the sail. All hands on deck had it sorted out in a jiffy and we proceeded at five knots and a bit off the wind with fore sail and reefed jib - reefed for balance.

On inspection of the failure, the upper block was a hefty looking Lewmar 80 “three wheeler” but with a pathetic spindle to connect it to the shackle. While small to begin with, the spindle had been bored out and further compromised by the hole to allow for the shackle pin. It is surprising that the trivial remaining amount of metal could hold up the block, let alone anything attached to it, let alone a main sail. Our other blocks appear all to be Lewmar 80 HD, which have a much heavier spindle.

Going up the mast this morning with the new halyard and spare (heavier!) block was a challenge. Still blowing @20 with moderate confused sea. We set her on course paralleling the rollers, but it still was a beating by a big guy (Neptune?). My inner arms and thighs are black and blue. I am snacking on Industrial Strength Ibuprofen.

When I was up there I though of my hero Ellen MacArthur getting similarly (much, much more) thrashed in the Southern Ocean, and knew that I could do it. But I did also think of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” as my basic motor functions were getting thrashed out of me.

But now the sails are back up and we are bowling along to Natal and. . . .

All is well.