Hi there,
We had yesterday a very tough night
passage to Peloponnes coming from Santorini with winds in the 23..30kn of
wind on the beam, high waves above 3m, lots of traffic etc.
All went well with 2 reef in and 50%
Genoa. Finally we arrived totally exhausted at the south corner of the peninsula and tried to approach an sheltered Bay we though. The waves got smaller to 1m,
wind dropped to 20kn, we set course to the large bay and suddenly the the wind picket up to 35kn with gusts over 40. We tried to run off the wind, but there is a lot of traffic in the entrance and not much room to Lee, the bows digged into the waves, quite scary, so we decide to turn into the wind and get at least the 3rd reef in or bring the main down, the sea state was not too bad, 1.5m waves, but very strong gusts, we used the
autopilot and both engines to stay into the wind, but the upper top of the main was flapped to the side, the
rope was broken, that holds the sail top to the car and the wind ripped two of the buttons off the cars on the
mast, totally out of control, the threads ripped off of the sail sockets.
We managed to get the sail down after a good fight with the elements.
We hove to with 30% Genova in the middle of the channel and managed to get the main secured to the boom with 2 land lines.
Now we are looking for a marina or a sail maker, where we can get some spare
parts to fix the main sail or let it fix, the plastic car holders need to be replaced and we would like to have some spare on board.
I also need a schematic how the square top is properly rigged with the cord to the
mast car. There are to few cars on the top of the sail, maybe it is possible to add one or 2 more with grommets to prevent this from happening again.
Any thoughts, help and advise how to fix it and where to go for professional help, or get the spare
parts south / east Peloponnese is highly appreciated.