Location 20° 18S, 145° 24W
Tuesday, 10.09.2007

The Schooner Maggie B was at at noon on October 9th. This has been a bad day. A little before 0900 this morning, our main throat halyard block failed. It was a heavy duty Antal 90 by 16 triple. we also notice serious wear on the brand new halyard we put on three days ago. It has been three days of close-hauled 20 knot breeze, with occasional gusts to 35, but nothing serious. As we were securing the main, and not more than five minutes from the first failure, the fore throat halyard block failed. It was a Lewmar 80 triple.

We were in fairly rough seas, too rough to send anyone aloft with our spares, so we made for the nearest atoll, Hereheretua, to find a spot in the lee to make repairs. We got to the atoll at about sunset, and Kath, with a great effort, got the main throat halyard up. But by then it had become clear to us that we weren’t in a position to press on to Chile. We need more rigging work, especially to find and eliminate the source of wear on the main throat halyard. We need more blocks. We need to clean up the mess in the lazyjacks made by the emergency lowering of the sails. We need to raise the fore throat halyard with the new block. Did I mention that the GPS receiver antenna failed last night also? The spare works great, but has to be properly installed.

It also looks as if the hoped-for big Southerly isn’t going to happen and we would be facing more strong headwinds.

So now we are headed back to Marina Taina in Papeete, a trip of a little more than a day. It is a lovely place, but rather discouraging to retreat. I am not at all sure what this means for timing for Easter Island, the Horn or Montevideo. I suppose that the prospect of Big City Bright Lights will dispel some of the gloom.

Heaven knows what the French Border Police will make of our return. Perhaps we can sneak in and out? Nah.

All is safe.