Down Rig and Hurricane

2100 Sunday September 11

It seemed high time for me to give you an update. It has proven to be a summer of challenges and the last few days have had their own.

My brother Bob arrived on the eight to help me with the down rig and haul out of Tazzarin. Friday morning we were up early to get ready to pull the mast from the boat in preparation for winter storage. I had already removed and folded the sails. I had also removed the main boom and stowed it on deck and taken off the permanent boom vang. Next steps were to unreave halyards,, spinnaker topping lift and other lines. We then pulled cotter pins and disconnected the forestry, backstay and upper, lower and intermediate shrouds. after that the boom truck arrived alongside. I had to clamber a rickety ladder halfway up the mast and attach a sling from the boom to a point just above a balance point for the spar.

I had a debate with the operator of the boom truck, me insisting that the base of his hoist on the truck needed to be aft of the mast on the boat, since he was hoisting from the aft side of the mast. He insisted it was not an issue and that with his boom, "he could do anything." So, the hist started. After raising the mast about three feet, and with the base of the mast still down inthe cabin, the boom came in contact with the upper spreader. All went quickly awry! The mast became jammed in the boat and thre were fears the spreader would break. The mast was also rotating in a bad way. After much discussion, we had to gather a group of people to climb aboard and all perch on the port side of the boat to heal her enough such that we could free the mast, boom truck and boat. We then got the mast back into the boat and back on the keel mast step. We then repositioned the truck as I initially suggested and the mast came out easily and quickly. The whole process took close to two hours, most of which was with the mast stuck. It had this sailor on pins and needles wondering every minute if I would lose the while spar. Whew! Now Tazzarin was floating dockside without her rig, in hopes of hailing Monday. However.... Another challenge was brewing... (read on...)

No doubt most of you in New England heard about the major hurricane, Earl, that swept up the Atlantic from the tropics, passing just east of Bermuda, and on to the north. New England was spared; but, not Newfoundland!

Newfoundland does not generally get hurricanes; they usually weaken over the colder waters. But, in the era of climate change, Earl decided to park itself just to the south of St. John's and the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. The image above shows the storm; the green dot in southeast Newfoundland is where Tazzarin is berthed. Earl has basically sat there for two days, slowly degrading, but, potent.

Last night winds here were gusting to 55 knots. Seas were forecast to reach 23 feet and a significant storm surge was forecast for where our current berth is located. This morning we woke to an angry sea. Winds were shrieking through the rigging of all the boats, sheets of heavy rain were falling.

At high tide this morning there was a couple feet of storm surge, so much that the docklines of some vessels were now starting to lift pilings loose as the boats yanked and tugged upwards on their docklines. The flags on the flagpoles at the Yacht Club, at half mast in recognition of Queen Elizabeth's passing, were standing taught in a fearsome breeze.

Thankfully, the winds have now started to taper off this evening. Although, it may still be too windy to haul the boat tomorrow.

Bob and I did use some of our free time during the storm to observe the power of mother nature and her angry sea. Below is a view looking out past the lighthouse at Cape Spear as the storm was building. It was literally close to impossible to keep one's footing up on top of the Cape where the winds were gusting far above sea level velocities. The second photo below is of the churning cauldron of spume, waves and mist along the shore.

Tazzarin will keep overcoming the challenges as they present themselves.

Bill