Isla Mujeres to Roatan,
My closest sailing buddy, Ric has a house on Frenchman's Bay, Roatan, Honduras. It is on the water with its own dock and boathouse in the protected lagoon right next door to Brooksy Point Yacht Club, brooksypointyachtclub.com, behind Fantasy Island. So this spring, March 2012, we departed Andromeda's home berth in Isla Mujeres, destination Roatan! The distance to cover is about 300 miles on the rhumb line, but the prevailing SE to E wind and the north bound Yucatan current must be accommodated by first taking a track to the E at about 120 degrees for at least 60 miles. That is a tough beat.
Then I pointed Andromeda S to Roatan. About 60 miles N. of Roatan, under some very heavy winds, the headsail roller furling line parted and the headsail, which had been reefed to 1/2 of its area unfurled. The headsail whipped and popped under the heavy winds and when I went to the foredeck to wrestle it down I discovered three of the four bolts which hold the forestay to the bowsprit had broken. The headsail was brought to the deck, the headsail halyard was secured to the foredeck and tensioned to provide support to the rig, and after some anxious assessment of the risk attendant to continuing under sail we determined that we could proceed with the double reefed main and the staysail.
We made the rest of the way without further difficulty, but the timing put us entering Frenchman's Bay in the dark. Ric took to the foredeck and he navigated Andromeda through the skinny waters, past a couple of unmarked shoals, through the anchorage, and into the lagoon. Once in the lagoon it was simple. We dropped an anchor, backed up to his dock, tied the stern, connected the power cord, and congratulated ourselves on another well executed passage.
We took the 3 broken and 1 bent bolt out of the forestay assembly, tracked down a machine shop and had 4 new bolts (1/4 x 7") custom cut (threads on both ends). The original installation includes a seal of the whole assembly w/ 5200. The bolts broke because of the typical crevice corrosion suffered by oxygen starved, saturated w/ saltwater, SS bolts, functioning as "chainplates". Needles to say, it is a bitch to get it all apart and all of the 5200 cleaned out of the 6" holes so that new bolts can be inserted. Although I cursed the 5200 repeatedly in the long laborious effort of removal, undoubtably the 5200 was the margin of strength that held the assembly together after the bolts broke.
The passage down took 72hrs., but the return, downwind and down current, was made in only 55hrs. After returning, a search of the IP archives quickly yielded a report from another IP owner who had replaced the same bolts. I called the vendor identified, (it is not an easy task finding a vendor that sells this size) and ordered permanent replacements.
George Henry,
S/V Andromeda, IP44-35,
Isla Mujeres, Mexico
