Sailing and snapped lines

Current location: 39°04’767 N 017°08’257 E, Moored in Yachting Kroton Club, Crotone, Italy

Being back on the water felt like home. With a steady 8 knots we were on our way to Crotone, a town in southern Italy, to pick up our fourth crewmember. The weather gods were with us, and we managed to dodge all the rainy clouds. About half-way there the wind picked up and we decided to reef the main (, making the sail smaller so that you can handle the boat better in stronger winds). That’s how I learnt that a catamaran is not a mono-hull. It didn’t like very much staying in the no go zone, and decided to tack over. At which I point I just said, no worries, let’s just heave-to – a simple way to just stop the boat and sort out when the boat doesn’t do what you want it to. A cat doesn’t like to heave to either, at least not this catamaran. Duly noted. We just ended up starting the motor to help her point so we could reef the sail a little. Another thing that I noticed being on this catamaran is how differently it was rigged compared to a mono-hull, meaning, all the lines to the sails didn’t go where I’d normally have them go. So when I looked at the fore-sail, the sail in the front, it would have this strange shape looking very much like a cupped hand. In sailing, moving forward is all about aerodynamics, and you wouldn’t want that type of shape if you are trying to accelerate the air. We ended up rigging another line, to keep hold the sail out, and as a result we picked up in speed. And that was a good decision, because an hour later the original line snapped, putting all tension on our second line. “We got lucky”, exclaimed the skipper once we had sorted it out. I could do nothing but agree. The line didn’t look that worn out, but it was decided that all the lines for the sails would be switched for new ones as soon as we could find a good nautical store. I really like when skippers take safety seriously. Yay Sig.