Current Position: 19 40.115’S 63 25.857’E; Local Timezone: UTC+4; SOG: 0 kt; COG: N/A; TWS: 5.9 kt; TWD: 148; Distance to Waypoint (Rodrigues): At Anchor; Total Miles Sailed: 13671 nm; Engine Hours: 265; Estimate Fuel: 50+14+50;
Comments: Two more 5.80 racers arrived last night and anchored in the bay. The supply ship radioed at 5:00 and informed the Coast Guard they would be at the pilot station at 6:15. I got to work early, about 5:30. I repaired the lazy jack lines first and then worked on the gooseneck. I lifted the sail with the spinnaker halyard and I suspended the boom with the main halyard as disassembled the gooseneck. It all went smoothly until I tried to remove the threaded rod I installed in Tonga. It would not budge. I cut a slot in the end of the rod and tried to drive it with the impact wrench and a flat screwdriver, but it would not move. Finally, I put a nut on it and used the impact wrench to drive it out. The threaded rod was destroyed, but I knew I had spare rod. I mounded a large fender washer to the backside of the end of the boom, drilled holes and secured it with two 1/4” screws, then bolted the gooseneck through the washer. The render washer is going to keep the bolt from sliding back and forth and sawing through the aluminum. Putting everything back together was straightforward, albeit with the usual problem of aligning the boom to insert the pins through the gooseneck. The use of halyards and the windlass allowed me to get everything aligned. I took three of the 5.80 sailors to shore and they bought me lunch. I did some shopping (bought 3 dozen eggs, the first I have had since Darwin two months ago) and ferried some of the 5.80 sailors who were displaced by the cargo ship. All of the 5.80 sailors returned to the port except Argo, Christian’s boat, which is still rafted to mine.
Comments: Two more 5.80 racers arrived last night and anchored in the bay. The supply ship radioed at 5:00 and informed the Coast Guard they would be at the pilot station at 6:15. I got to work early, about 5:30. I repaired the lazy jack lines first and then worked on the gooseneck. I lifted the sail with the spinnaker halyard and I suspended the boom with the main halyard as disassembled the gooseneck. It all went smoothly until I tried to remove the threaded rod I installed in Tonga. It would not budge. I cut a slot in the end of the rod and tried to drive it with the impact wrench and a flat screwdriver, but it would not move. Finally, I put a nut on it and used the impact wrench to drive it out. The threaded rod was destroyed, but I knew I had spare rod. I mounded a large fender washer to the backside of the end of the boom, drilled holes and secured it with two 1/4” screws, then bolted the gooseneck through the washer. The render washer is going to keep the bolt from sliding back and forth and sawing through the aluminum. Putting everything back together was straightforward, albeit with the usual problem of aligning the boom to insert the pins through the gooseneck. The use of halyards and the windlass allowed me to get everything aligned. I took three of the 5.80 sailors to shore and they bought me lunch. I did some shopping (bought 3 dozen eggs, the first I have had since Darwin two months ago) and ferried some of the 5.80 sailors who were displaced by the cargo ship. All of the 5.80 sailors returned to the port except Argo, Christian’s boat, which is still rafted to mine.