Jeff's Cautionary Tale
July 10, 2006

Hey all,
I got out on the river yesterday, and I thought I would share my  experience with you as a cautionary tale. It was beautiful when I got to the marina @ 9:30 yesterday. The breeze was South at 6-8 knots.  A perfect day to get in a little single handed sail.  As I got out on the river the breeze was building, and I spent most of the morning and early afternoon sailing in 10-13 knot winds. It picked up to 15+ by the time I thought I was finished for the day. I sailed down to the bridge, turned around and threw the kite for the ride up river. I had a great time sailing past the Alexandria waterfront, showing off my big red spinnaker. I sailed all the way up to Haines Point, turned around and headed back to the bridge.

That was so much fun, I decided to do it again. Got to the bridge, threw the bag, and started back up river.  The wind was up to 13+ at this point, but no worries -- I know what I'm about, and I settled in for an exciting single handed spinnaker ride  back up the river. Of course, not having eyes in the back of my head,  I did not see the rather large puff coming my way until it hit me.

All of a sudden I was by-the-lee, my kite had caught this puff full on  and I was death rolling.  Doh!! Now I really didn't want to go for a  swim here -- being by myself, and  wearing my new I-Pod and listening  to some great tunes as the boat slowly tipped over the wrong way.  Quick thinking on my part had me release the Spin sheet, flip the boom over my head, and release the Jib which I had left up and cleated to keep it out of the way.  All this while simultaneously climbing up to the new  high side.  And boy was it high. Miracle of miracles, I kept the boat  from going over and didn't even ship all that much water. The I-pod was still playing, and I didn't even lose an ear bud!

 I then dowsed the kite, jibed back to my original course and headed home. I thought I've had enough now, and its blowing 16-17 knots anyway - more work than I feel like dealing with. Now you might think my story ends here, but you would be wrong.

 this is where it gets interesting, even tragic. I got back to the dock, and got the boat ready to pull out.  As I was lifting my boat out of the water, my stern lift bridle broke. The stern of the boat went crashing back into the water. Fortunately it was the water and not the dock that was under the boat. However, the mast got tangled up with the crane, and the boats weight leveraged it. End result: The lower shroud tore out completely, the spreader snapped in half, the upper shroud almost broke, and where the lower shroud tore out is now a big hole in the mast which kind of started bending over in two. In short I broke my mast.

I have already ordered a new one - $1800.00 with shipping. OUCH!

So here is my advice to everyone: Take a moment and examine your lift bridle! If there are any knots or wear spots - REPLACE IT. Replacing my lift bridle has been on my list all spring. I let it go just a bit too long, and it cost me a mast. I'm just lucky it didn't cost me a boat.
 

See also Jason Werner's commentary.