1981,.. island hopping down the Windward-Leewards...in my 1971 35 ft
Morgan CB
sloop,
we leave
St Lucia headed south to St Vincent, big ocean
winter trades...
typical
winter trades...20-28 knots...puffy cumulus clouds...sunny....but,
Giant, huge 35 foot ocean rolling seas abeam, we had a thrilling beam reach at over
hull speed, with a double reefed main, 90% working
jib, 7.5 to 8 knots
boat speed...
HUGE rollers unimpeded,... all the way from
Africa...30 foot to 35 foot tall seas...
no white
water, no breaking waves, the tops of the seas were 20 yards across, with gigantic troughs....
So...on top of a huge 35 ft roller, the
wind gusts to 28...my fearless steed heels hard over and accelerates to 8 plus knots....foolishly,...with adrenaline pumping...I let the
wheel slip through my fingers as she accelerates to windward,.. now with the gust forward of the beam.....My 13000 lb
sloop literally shoots off the top of this roller....only the
rudder in the back of the sea...AIRBORNE...!!!
the bow drops like a stone,
anchor spit first; heading straight down into the huge gaping trough!!! a 35 foot drop... on the 3rd second an immense bangcrash like I'd never heard before...but the
kicker was this...standing at the
helm, I could see at impact, the entire length of the
interior; the
boat bent like a banana!...the whole forepeak bent at impact what seemed like 3ft...I can still see it ,36 years later...a frozen picture in time...
we kept sailing at
hull speed to anchorage in the lee of St Vincent...the boat was a mess inside...everything had been dumped onto the sole...with
anchor down and all quiet...I jumped into the
avon dink to inspect the impact point...
on the port side forward at the bow...a hairline
gelcoat crack, a 6 ft. half moon
arc encompassing the whole forward topside...
No other damage seen in the ensuing 2 and a 1/2 years sailing, Island hopping all the way back to Ft Lauderdale... whew...young and stupid..
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