HERE - Polynesian Catamaran Association

o pe ratIo n w ent v ery sm o othIy a n dm ostprofessionalySerenite wasChrlstened onthe Saturday.andon Monday we m otored am ile up the riverto ourposition in thefestivalsite By this tim e,vessels werearriving by the score Som e big,through the Iock gates, and somesm aler ones by road. There wassome confuslon inthe adm inistration,butnevertheless we had a bedh andwhat a Iocation!Just astern of thegreat Eric Tabarly in his Pen Dulckand ahead ofNuclearElectric and thecentre pieceofthe eventthe replica ofthe Matthew Cabots ship W e wereIndeed in exalted com pany Thecrowds ofspectators cam e thick andfast.Am ongstthe crowds were m anyP C A m em bers, including SteveTurnerand fam ily and Simon Tyther-Ieigh who was m oored further upstream.Bythe3rd.day both m ywifeand lwere exhausted.Som e 10O peopIecam e onboard and many morespoken to on the quayside The entertainment in the nearby centre stagewas attimes to me,horrendous.Buta I in aIlwelworth the ad m issioncharges alone The 60O vessels ondisplay were fabulous and the publcresponse,notwithstanding attimes,theatrocious weather,was welaboveexpectationsand itis to be hoped thatBristolwilbenefitfrom the eventandwe shalsee anothereventIlke itin 4years tim e The folow ing weekswerespent in completing the fitting ouțw ater. Iighting. instrum ents etcSlowly depadure Iooked nearer Infact we set off on Friday 5th Julyclearing Bristoldocks by 9-30 pm andIeaving Avonm outh by 11-3O pm ,bound forFalm outh Now Im ustconfess,lnretrospect,thatitwas notverycleverto setouton a m aiden voyageatthattime ofthe day Butthe windforecastwas NNW force 3-4 Actualwind nearerforce 2/3 and m ore westerlythan NNW However our w ingm astand Technique sails perform edvery wel-gknots routine speed with awellIaden hul-about5 % tons displacement,including the 4 personsaboardBy the tlde turn,we were weldownthe N Devoncoastand then ofcourseM urphy's Iaw sets in and the windgoes westeriy and picks up to force4-5,Ourtwo crew ,Hilton and Carol,had to be back atworkon MondaysoFailed forestay shacklethere wasno room fora Iong passagetacking to windward.This being so.we headed for M ilford Haven as agood alternative to Falm outh Stilonthe wind however, but we shouldm ake ourtim e.By now the wind wasup to an indicated 3oknots at them asthead and we were welreefedStilm aklng 10 -11 knotsthrough thewaterby Saturday afternoon we werea11very tired W e had notsleptm uchoffwatch so a universaldecision wasm ade to bear aw ay and head forSwansea O n com ing off the windaftersome 18 hoursbeating,thejoywas shod lived ! The boom stadedhitting the dog house roof and thewing m astwas ata very strange angIeHilton wentto the m astheelandsaw thatthe forestay shackle atthemasthead had failed and we weresaling wlth only the genoa halyardholding the m ast upright and slowlyslippng throughthe Spinlock undertheexcessive Ioad W hi1st I,regrettably,dlthered Hilton grabbed the unusedspinnake r ha lya rd a n d ra n up to th eforward netting beam and secured thefree end JustIn time , forIthink themastwould have reached the pointofno return in another 5 seconds W em anaged to lim p into Swansea undera jury rigged forestay On Sundaymorning Hilton wentup to the m astheadand m ade a tem porary repairTwo weeksIaterwe replaced the brokenshackle and thatpad ofthe incidentwasclosed However,you m aybe interested inthe subsequentInvestlgationThe sketch shows the m astheadarrangement The photo showsthe failed shackle on the leftand thereplacem ent on the right But bewarned , the replacem ent shacklefailed before itwentto the m asthead!W hIIststanding on deckdoing up thepin by hand,itjam med some 3-4turns in and couldn'tbe moved eitherway Eventua ly we putitin a vice andusedanadjustableSpannerto undoIta nd fo u nd the Ia st 3 th rea d s d e-stroyed The suppliers reckonthe falureofthe 'new 'shackle was due toIack ofany Iubrication As regard theoriginal failure, that was sent toSoutham pton University forexam lnationAtthe tim e ofwriting lonly havethe verbal report from the supplierwho sentthe shackle.and they saythatthe evidence points to the shacklecom ing undone. Now a word ofcaution-the shackles atthe m astheadwere done up w ith a 10 inch adjustablespanner Also they were aIseized with monelw ire before besnginspected by a friend as welas thetwo experienced yard hands, beforesteppingthe mast Rem em ber,thls isa I6m m dia pin we are talking about.The nom inal breaking load of theforestay is7 4 tons,thatofthe shackleis 10tons So asthe forestayis intact,the m aximum toad was welinside theIim itofthe shackle.The only explanationthat l can think of is that theshackle worked itselfIoose and pulledout the pin from the body As theseizing wire was stilintactwhen theshackle was replaced,Iam ata IossforanyotherexplanationPage 13