Saturday 22 November 2003 15:42:32
Mollymawk suffers mast crack 1.000 nm from Salvador
Folks our pos is 00 48.477N 28 38.735W, which gives us about 1000miles to go. There was a massive crack noise this am about 0800GMT, not long after my weekly BBC Radio Newcastle interview. On inspection the mast column support box has fractured just below deck, this has allowed the mast base to flex/bend about 1inch and has cracked surrounding deck. Damage was probably due to pounding into a rather lumpy 6-8ft sea.
We dropped the index and have used scavenged timber to reinforce the box so things do not progress/worsen.
We are continuing to Salvador as it is the best port for carrying out repairs - it will mean lifting out mast and rebuilding support box and surrounding deck - about 2-3days work.
At present we are under jib alone as we assess our temp repairs and gain info from our support team over how much indexsail we can set without overloading structure. Also if sea state settles we will set more sail and add additional reinforcing with epoxy/glass/carbon to repair.
At present progress it is 5 days to Salvador, although it could be less. No one injured, just our hopes of getting past the 50s - it's fairly glum on board at present.
Ross &Andi
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