Jan 23, 2005 - 1700hrs SYD │Dunedin, NZ │Knockdown Damage Report

1700hrs 23 Jan 2005. (SYD) Dunedin, NZ

Greetings from Dunedin – late, with apologies. Lost an hour’s email yesterday when the slot machine gizmoSome kind of gadget or other, normally infuriating on this pc crashed and reset my screen so I’m having another go, but in instalments.

We’ve been assessing damage – rather more than first impressions but still relatively superficial and some of it quite surprising, and then arranging fixes, delivery of spares and just churning the inside of the boat to make it more manageable. I think one of our first mistakes was to assume that we could get a year’s worth of stuff into the space available. Yes, it fits, but it’s completely unmanageable, with all the problems that brings.

Damage, starting at the top

– masthead wind transducer, stout aluminium tube with anemometer and vane on the end bent through about 30 degrees, and not as the boat was rolling down into the water but as it was coming up, Surprising at first, but not if you think about it.

Also masthead windicator bent at 90 deg. Much flimsier, and bent the same way. Photos to follow and I will send the bits back for Gerry’s sea survival course.

– pulpitThe railing at the bow of a boat, which sometimes extends past the deck. bent about 30 cm to port by the force of the wave on the sail tied to it and along the rail -First port stanchionUpright support on the edge of the deck to carry lines or a safety rail bent horizontal the same way

– second stanchionUpright support on the edge of the deck to carry lines or a safety rail bent in almost to the shrouds by my ribs – I think – as I came back in – photos to follow.

– this one’s gobsmacking – liferaft cover distorted so that the top half flexed into the bottom half – hard to describe, but astonishing

– hole in mainsail caused by water pressure forcing in between lashings on the boom – lashings not close enough together to prevent pockets forming = lifering in bag on pushpitThe railing around the deck at the stern of a yacht. almost washed away – held in place by extra lashing I had put on – better to have removed it below.

– absolute disaster below. Icebox lids had lifted off and ended up in forepeak, this trajectory is how i assessed the extent of the roll as i sat on the floor nursing my ribs and pete steered for about 10 hours. Home brew plastic bottles from outer box – maybe 20 – all around base of mast. Not so much out of inner box. Salami, margerine etc. Bags of onions burst, egg boxes smashed, food cans everywhere. On the plus side, we had actually stowed for potential inversion and most of the stuff didn’t move. Yay!

We did, however, forget to screw down the bunk boards, hence cans, bunkboards etc all over the place from the stb side. Silly mistake and could have been much more serious.

– computer hanging from charging cord, usb cable off…panic…Panasonic Toughbook laptop worth every cent it cost, still running.

On the other side of this little list, things that really worked and saved our bacon big time

– full height, sealed stormboardsIn this context, the two sturdy wooden half ‘doors’ that close the companionway entrance when things get pearshaped and we need to keep the greeniesWhen waves come over the boat as solid water rather than spray they can exert massive force. Usually the water runs down the sides of the boat and out through the scuppers. Your more determined greenie (not to be confused with a conservationist) will send a flooding wall of water across the cabin top, over the dodger and into the cockpit and it may smash anything it meets on the way; see also Dodger, Scuppers (qv) out of the cabin. Made specially by Pete.. cockpit full to coaming, only a few buckets below. Good one pete.

– Fuel tank with 80 ltrs properly chocked, doesn’t seem to have moved

– conePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water of silencePlastic roll-down curtain to protect nav table /instruments from water – heavy plastic curtain protecting nav table – saved radios, laptop, charts

– jacklines and tethers – used and worn and probably saved us both. Hard to judge – pete reckoned he had a smile on his face cos it seemed so slow and pleasant.

– everything secured on deck – silly in retrospect to leave sails lashed on foredeck and won’t do it again, but otherwise, all stayed with us.

– stowage, as above

– a point of vanishing stability of 145+ degrees is really nice to have. I suspect many other boats would have rolled completely.

As it was, we did much better than everyone else we heard from who were out there. Some didn’t even have their stormboardsIn this context, the two sturdy wooden half ‘doors’ that close the companionway entrance when things get pearshaped and we need to keep the greeniesWhen waves come over the boat as solid water rather than spray they can exert massive force. Usually the water runs down the sides of the boat and out through the scuppers. Your more determined greenie (not to be confused with a conservationist) will send a flooding wall of water across the cabin top, over the dodger and into the cockpit and it may smash anything it meets on the way; see also Dodger, Scuppers (qv) out of the cabin. Made specially by Pete. in, with predictable results.

End of first instalment – the gizmoSome kind of gadget or other, normally infuriating wants to time me out.