tophatyachts.com

10 am sailing departure stretched out till midday ,after coffee with my 2 guests.
Saw 2 top hats heading home as we set out for Mackerel beach under Genoa only( I knew what was coming)
Left Mackerel at 4pm, well reefed, intending to shelter at the basin if really nasty.
2 tacks b4 the main ripped completely across reef points, ( not tied round boom).
Got into South end of Mackerel & dropped anchor immediately.
Main was wrapped around the masthead, twice. Stowed the remainder, had a cup of tea between gusts and slept till 1 am when gale dropped.
Sailed back to Elvina under full Genoa, dropped guests at Church point (Paul, broken toe?).
I got to bed at 4 am.
Pittwater. Wonderful training ground!

Jeepers Woodsy, that's a shame about your main.

Yesterday was a really interesting day for sailing. Good practice for reefing and showing your guests the "other" side of sailing.......

Hoods in Brooky are pretty good at repairs.....

I am glad I made the decision to head home from Americas Bay early to miss all that.

3 cheers for the fair weather sailors!!!!!!!

Thanks Miker. Will crawl under the house through the 'sail locker' & funnel webs to see what I have festering there 1st.

So who were the 2 'T.Hs' heading south while I was heading north?

Pleased I sailed Saturday rather than Sunday. Bad luck about your main, was it a newish one?

No. Twas an oldy but reasonable condition. I gave my spare away to a friend in January!

2 hours work from the deck with an extension pole as tall as the mast, managed to unwind my unofficial burgee from around the mast.
Climbed the mast after tying one end of rope to my harness, throwing the other end over the crosstree to haul myself up. Added a prussic loop on the hauling end & attached it to my harness to lock me in place if I let go by accident or needed a rest. Backed this up with my wife running the hauling end over a mast winch & tailing as I ascended.
Standing on the crosstrees, I was able to flick the wire main halyard back over the masthead , (using the now shortened ext. pole), where it had knotted.
Descended, then pulled the halyard down with string I had tied to it much earlier, to avoid it dropping down inside the mast.
Attached a crappy old spare main I dug out from under the house. It is smaller than the torn main but may last until I can buy a replacement.


My wife is embarrassed by the 'TRAMP' look it projects but I am back in business....almost.

And my thoughts go out to the poor bloke whose yacht ended up on the rocks at Maitland Bay on the same Sunday .
He was helicoptered safely off them.

Mainland Bay is a great anchorage in a northeaster but is the last place you would want be with a strong southerly expected.