It was dark when we were dismasted, fortunately only 65 n. mi. SE Cape Moreton (gateway to
Brisbane, QLD, Oz).
We did things a bit differently, but it was a different type of
dismasting, because our mast broke just about 8" above the
deck, so there was really nothing to
work with--even the
spinnaker pole was gone.....
She (the woman in the You tube vid) said something like "if you have no
sails, you have to
motor." To me, this showed that she (or they?) had not considered how else their 1/2 mast could be supported, minus the chainplate connection. It would depend on what you have, how your
boat is constructed, if there were other options. It is one of the things I like about perforated toe rail along the
hull to
deck join. The half of a mast that they had left represents something to
work with for jury
rigging something, if they could figure out an alternate means of supporting what was left of the mast. They did not appear to have considered any option other than motoring, dragging the mast end in the water.
Like Pete said, though, they did get their
boat safely to port. It's sort of like landings: any one you walk away from is a good one.
Another difference is that Jim was able to jury rig an
antenna, so we were able to come up on our ham net, and get someone to arrange with
Customs that we would go in to a marina after we got in. There was no
emergency, because we had plenty of
fuel, and we did have to motor all the way. And we had
radio comms if we needed them.
In our case, we let the whole rig go to the bottom of the sea. Part of the reason for that was that in the swell, the mast was sawing vertically along the topsides, and we didn't want it abrading a hole in the
hull that would allow water in. And then we waited 10 min., with our arms around each other. And then, did a walk around, to make sure there were no lines, nor anything else we'd missed, before we dared to start the engine. It became very important to my self esteem that we could get ourselves safely into port. Meanwhile, a bunch of the ham
radio guys wanted to come "rescue" us. ....We came to a compromise: we asked them to come meet us at dusk (only nav light left was the stern light) to escort us in. And so they did, and one couple whisked us away to their place for dinner, which was really kind--tasty, too.
We do not have an MFD. Once it is displaying white
noise, man, I'd want that puppy off! or covered. I did wonder what their backup was, but it did not seem to be a problem for them.
For me, it was a pretty upsetting experience, and my first dismasting. Jim's
Catalina 22 had been dismasted, and he knew more what to expect, and had also had years to think about it in, which stood him in good stead for dealing with it all.
Ann
) but thats all
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