So dear readers, we finally made it back to the boat after the storm to assess damages and start getting it ready to sail.
We arrived on Tuesday, and got our cushions all squared away (they were beautiful!), and had hoped to work on the jib, but the forecast was wrong, and more storms were predicted. Instead we opened up the bimini, connected the dodger, and found a bit more damage we had missed. There were a couple small holes in the bimini. On looking more closely, we realized it was the way it had been tied up, and chafed against the backstay. Note to self for next time, add something to keep the bimini from chafing directly against that stay when tied back.
Thankfully, we have some great canvas people here in the marina, and they were able to quickly reinforce the bimini where it had worn against the stay (the next day!) so all was right with the world again
Winds were predicted to be good on Thursday morning, so we enjoyed the rest of the day getting organized again and making plans for the next couple days. We went shopping to restock the boat with food, and picked up some dinner while we were out.
Instead, we got up Wednesday morning, and the air was almost completely still - so we decided to go for it and see if we could fix the jib.
We carefully untied the lines Bean and I had tied, and then Michael studied it for about 5 minutes before figuring out what was tangled and how to undo it. We released all the lines, and slowly started unwinding the jib. The neighbors had told us the top part of the jib has been furling in the opposite direction when they were tying it up, and there were about four different halyards all mixed up in it.
Michael slowly unwrapped while Bean and I wrangled the jib sheets and the two halyards at the lowest part of the sail. Of course, the wind started to pick up just a little here, so I'm holding the jib sheets at the end, and holding onto a stay while Michael and Bean hand me various lines to pass around as we continue unraveling the mess. Finally, we get the jib fully unfurled and all untied and everything looks free, except one little part on the stay where the sail looks stuck...
On further inspection, our reef foil actually broke, and the sail had caught in the foil :-(
So, we definitely need to get the jib down so it can be repaired, and the reef foil can be replaced. Michael was able to get the sail free and we got it down to the point the furler hit the broken part of the foil - until that point we thought we were going to get away without using the boson's chair! But alas, so Michael quickly set up the chair, connected it to a halyard, and Bean hoisted him up (only about 10 feet thankfully), he was able to bend it back into place with a pair of pliers, and we got the jib off, mission success.
We took the sail out to the parking lot, noted the damage, measured the leech, and folded it up for storage. There is a small hole that can probably be fixed with sail repair tape, but the bigger issue is the luff line is actually cut - not all the way through, but enough that it will need to be replaced. One more thing for my todo list - but I have the measurements, so now I just need to make a few calls to see who can do that for me and for how much.
Then we had to clean up our mess... retie all the halyards down, coil and stow the jibsheets properly, rerun the lines that had been undone, it was a busy morning, but one big thing was off our list stopping us from making the trip
Overall, a very successful day. Since our first trip is just motoring down the ICW to get the boat back to Corpus, we aren't going to worry about the jib until we get there.
Oh, and as a bonus, Michael hung the vegetable net for me today, so now I have more counter space! It's the little things that make it a little bit more ours each day.
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