We say goodbye to Louis the harbour master in the bay of Samana, he fills us up with diesel in a rather unconventional way.
We check out the beautiful Marina Puerto Bahia for a last day in Samana relaxing before our 3-4 day passage to the Bahamas.
As soon as we leave the bay of Samana with the wind upon us, the main halyard breaks!
We took out the cruising chute from the sail locker and prepared her incase the wind was good enough to use her. After we had enjoyed 4 or 5 hours with the cruising chute, the wind picked up unexpectedly and panic set in as the cruising chute started to be overpowered……we go to furl her in but nothing happens, she won’t furl!!!
As we are racing with the wind behind us and trying to control the boat, the wind is picking up to nearly 20 knots, then the AT rope snapped and there is no way to furl it, we then had to decide what to do to get the sail onto the boat without losing it completely. With the wind still pulling us along at full pelt, the sail ends up in the water and we pull the soaking wet, 210m squared sail manually back onto the boat.
We sail into the sunset with a beer to calm our nerves from the dramas that had unfolded!!
Timestamps
00:00 Louis comes to the boat with diesel
02:45 We visit the Marina Puerto Bahia poolside
07:00 We leave the bay of Samana and head for the Bahamas
11:00 We lose the main sail
15:19 We let out the cruising chute
18:20 Disaster strikes as the wind picks up
21:37 We digest the events with a beer
23:12 We sail off into the sunset
