Day 143 – Headsail Halyard Block
Where Next?
Bob Williams
Thu 5 May 2022 09:55
Course: ESE Speed: 5.5 knots
Wind: SW F4 Sea: slight
Swell: SW 1.5m
Weather: overcast, hot, humid
Day’s Run: 128 nm
The wind has backed and veered some thirty degrees overnight which necessitated dropping the pole then putting it back up again a couple of times so as to maintain our desired heading. Apart from that it has all been pretty uneventful ... right up until I put the midday fix on the chart. On completion I checked on deck and looking forward noticed that the headsail had slipped down the foil by about six inches. I had a pretty good idea what the problem was and looking up the mast confirmed that the headsail halyard block had come adrift. Another block bites the dust.
I have spent the last two hours climbing up and down the mast replacing the block. The block had failed at the same point as the boom topping lift block, namely the pin where it is pressed into the cheek had pulled out allowing the sheave to come adrift. At this point I have no spare blocks so I transferred the spinnaker halyard block over. This means that I will not be able to set the drifter for the remainder of the voyage, which is not a problem, just as long as this block doesn’t fail otherwise I will have to start cannibalising other parts of the rig.
The headsail has now been reset, the wind is fresh from the SW, and we are beam reaching at six to seven knots.
All is well.