Sailing to Sivota
Aug. 3rd, 2007 07:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylDetermined to take advantage of the decent wind forecast, we decided to sail round Meganisi and then back to Sivota. Things started of gently but as the day wore on the wind veered from ESE to SW and got up from a couple of knots to 25–30. Approaching the southern tip of Meganisi, we decided that we were over canvased so we reefed the main and partially furled the genoa.
We cleared the island without any problems and tacked to head for Sivota. We came about rather smartly and pater, pleased that he'd managed to haul in the genny without my having to point up, remarked as much to anyone who might be listening. As he did so, there was a sound like a gunshot and genoa immediately started flapping.
I looked around and noticed that the starboard genoa sheet had snagged around one of the stanchions. For a moment, I thought that this was what had caused the problem. Then I noticed that the stanchion post, which not coincidentally also anchored the genoa furling line, had snapped completely clear the rail, where it had previously been bolted on. We were eventually able to furl the sail and headed for Sivota, where we tied up on the quay next to an absolutely beautiful Greek yacht which, we were staggered to discover, was 20 years old — it didn't look it; it was absolutely immaculate.
Once we were secure, pater and I started to investigate what had happened to the stanchion. We realised that when we'd moved from starboard to port tack, the furling line had been forced to take up some of the tension that had previously been on the port sheet and this had been sufficient to cause the bolts holding the stanchion post in place to shear. The irony is that if we hadn't reefed int the genny, the line wouldn't have been under tension and nothing would have happened...
Once we'd sorted this out, pater took the nephew off to buy presents for his little friends, while mater and I stayed in and could a vegetable risotto. The results were rather nice, but mater was dissatisfied, complaining that my risottos were tastier. When I asked her what sort of stock she'd used, the reason for the difference became clear: she hadn't used stock she'd used water. I'm not sure, can a dish still claim to be a risotto if it hasn't been made with stock?
We cleared the island without any problems and tacked to head for Sivota. We came about rather smartly and pater, pleased that he'd managed to haul in the genny without my having to point up, remarked as much to anyone who might be listening. As he did so, there was a sound like a gunshot and genoa immediately started flapping.
I looked around and noticed that the starboard genoa sheet had snagged around one of the stanchions. For a moment, I thought that this was what had caused the problem. Then I noticed that the stanchion post, which not coincidentally also anchored the genoa furling line, had snapped completely clear the rail, where it had previously been bolted on. We were eventually able to furl the sail and headed for Sivota, where we tied up on the quay next to an absolutely beautiful Greek yacht which, we were staggered to discover, was 20 years old — it didn't look it; it was absolutely immaculate.
Once we were secure, pater and I started to investigate what had happened to the stanchion. We realised that when we'd moved from starboard to port tack, the furling line had been forced to take up some of the tension that had previously been on the port sheet and this had been sufficient to cause the bolts holding the stanchion post in place to shear. The irony is that if we hadn't reefed int the genny, the line wouldn't have been under tension and nothing would have happened...
Once we'd sorted this out, pater took the nephew off to buy presents for his little friends, while mater and I stayed in and could a vegetable risotto. The results were rather nice, but mater was dissatisfied, complaining that my risottos were tastier. When I asked her what sort of stock she'd used, the reason for the difference became clear: she hadn't used stock she'd used water. I'm not sure, can a dish still claim to be a risotto if it hasn't been made with stock?
