This weekend sailing started just like any other weekend. Saturday was pretty nice with mild winds that would occassionally change direction. It was easy sailing and one of those enjoyable kick back and enjoy days. Sunday on the other hand was a day I will not soon forget.
The day started out very calm. We have hurricane Igor crashing into Bermuda off the east coast, but it must have sucked the wind from New Jersey. The wind was so lite, you could barely sail and have control over the boat. While cruising along the shoreline and heading for the open bay, I noticed an unattended camp fire on the shore that some fisherman must have left burning from the night before. All around this area is grasses, acres and acres of grasses. If I wasn't such a concerned citizen I would have sailed right on by and paid it no mind. Many did! I picked up my cell phone and notified the Keyport police that someone needed to throw a bucket of water on this fire before it started the grasses on fire. I told them it was about a half mile to mile past Olsen's Boat Works. They said they would send someone out. I waited for close to a half hour and no show. Up the shore a family was walking down the shore toward the fire. I was only about 50 yards off the shore and yelled to them, "There is a fire, put it out!" They stopped dead. At that moment I realized they did not speak English. Not knowing how to say put out the fire in spanish, I pointed and said "pyro....agua" and pointed. They paniced and turned around and started walking back the way they came. After sitting there and pointing, one of them got the idea and walked down the shore to where the fire was and put it out with multiple trips to the water.
I was now off to sailing, or so I thought. It was still very calm and not enough to keep the sails full. Sometimes the sails were steering the boat and other times the tiller actually made you turn. After hours of calm and doing a little fishing, trolling spearing behind the boat, the winds began to pickup. It was time to reel in the fishing lines and go have some fun. I started the engine to get out to open water where there would be more wind. I hit some pretty rough seas, but could feel the breeze in my face. I shut down the engine and raised my sails. I headed for open water where I could see the wind ripples on the water. Then suddenly BANG. My spreaded on my mast broke. I had to drop the sails ASAP. This was one of the first emergencies I have run into and I tried to treat it with total logic. I lowered the main sail and furled the jib sail. Trying to drop the main sail was tough. The wind was makling it flap all over the place and the mast was looking like it was going to fall. Once I had the sails in, I tied a rope to the lose cable which held the speader and tied it off so it wasn't flying around. I started the motor to head for shore. Remember, it was no longer calm like glass and there were waves. I was a good three miles out and if one more cable popped, the mast would fall. I could see the stresses being applied to the cables as the mast swung around. As long as it stayed in its mount, I should be fine. There was still the part of your mind that kept looking at that mast, just incase it did fall. I could not go very fast as the hitting any waves put more stress on the cables that were still holding the mast. The waves and winds were coming from the west, so I made a course for soutwest cutting through the waves on an angle and reducing the pounding to the boat. After an hour and a half I made it back to my mooring. I tied Lil Provo up to her mooring and secured everything on the boat. I went to shore in the dinghy and left a note on the door of the boat yard manager, explaining my problem. When I was headed home I thought I would leave a message on their telephone and John answered the phone. I explained what happened and he said he would pull the boat out of the water tomorrow and fix the mast, it should be back in Tuesday or Wednesday. That is service! I went home and watched football and had a couple beers to unwind.
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