Solo at sea - day 5 ( crash gybe / steering gear failure )

All right, well I'm sitting on the only part of the deck where I might not get too wet, and time for an update. It's been a couple of days, all is well on board Tally Ho, about two-thirds of the way across the Caribbean Sea, but probably about more like four-fifths the way through my passage, because there was quite a bit of distance in there before I turned north across the trade winds. So yeah, it's going well, it's been a pretty crazy couple of days since the last update. The third night, or the night after my last update, the wind was picking up quite a bit that night as I was getting into the trade winds. At some point in the early part of that night I did change out the headsail, the jib, changed the number one jib out for the number three jib, which is much smaller, and I'd already put the third reef in the mainsail, so the sails were pretty well reefed down, the wind was increasing. All was well, but then later that night, about two in the morning of course, while I was trying to sleep unsuccessfully, there was a huge bang and a crash, and the boat tipped way over, and I jumped out of bed in an absolute panic, and honestly I thought that the mast had broken, I thought I'd lost the rig, I thought it was really bad, and I jumped up, the cabin, the saloon, the galley were all a total mess, stuff everywhere, water, and I immediately poked my head out the hatch and saw with a relief that at least the mast was still standing, the rig was still standing, and then went to check down below and make sure we weren't sinking, make sure we hadn't hit something, and there was a hole in the hull or something, because I could hear a pump going off really loudly, and I could see water in the boat. It turned out the pump was just a freshwater pump, the tap in the galley had been knocked by something falling, so the freshwater pump was running full bore, so I closed that off, and the water had just come in through the hatches. So at that point I threw on a life jacket, I was still completely naked at this point apart from a life jacket, I ran up on deck and tried to figure out what was going on and get the boat under control, and I didn't really quite realise it at first, but what had actually happened is that the tiller pilot, the self-steering gear, is mounted in a small wooden bracket, and that wooden bracket had been getting so much force from the tiller pilot back and forth for so long that it had split, sort of slowly, gradually I think, it split the wood in two, and eventually to the point where it broke completely, and the tiller pilot just fell out of it, and the way it fell out, or the way it was steering the tiller as it had broken, meant that the boat had turned into a jive, and it was a crash jive of course, because it was not controlled, and that is when the wind comes around from the other side of the mainsail and slams the whole sail across the other side of the boat. Normally when you jive you have to do it slowly and methodically to keep it safe, but a crash jive like this is quite dramatic and can bring a rig down, can do a lot of damage. Luckily there was actually no damage to the rig that I've been able to find, which you know says a lot about the construction and the strength of the rig, and also of course it was a good thing that I had the main triple reef down so it wasn't as big as it could have been, but I eventually figured out what was going on deck and got the boat back under control, which was a bit of a task because the tiller was jammed behind one of the winches, the mainsheet was all tangled up and stuff, the autopilot was hanging off the stern, the inflatable Danboy had inflated in the cockpit because there was so much water in the cockpit, and the sheets and lines were everywhere. I was up there naked in my life jacket just trying to get everything under control and finally did, you know, managed to free the sheet and the tiller and got the boat in a hove two position with the headsails backed, and then I could actually take some time and figure things out and figured out the worst of it, cleaned up the worst of it, and then actually just rested for a bit because it was a big job and I didn't have the energy so I slept for a few hours with the boat hove two, and then I started really cleaning up, and there was a lot of broken glass and ceramic in the saloon and the galley all over the place, and a lot of stuff on deck to tidy and the fridge drawer had pulled out and stuff, but I did manage to get it all tidied. I also then had to make a new racket for the tiller pilot, luckily had plenty of wood for that and made a much stronger one, got that all installed, and I also dropped the mainsail completely, which was quite a job on your own, getting it all tidied up and secured, but I dropped it so I could hoist the trisail instead, which is a sort of alternative to the mainsail for heavy conditions and it doesn't have a boom or a gaff so it's much more manageable, and I knew the wind would be increasing higher than it was already so I wanted a trisail, and also because if we were to crash drive again, if the same thing happened again, the trisail, it wouldn't damage anything because it's got no boom, it's not really a big deal, if you jibe it. So that was the first time I've ever actually put up the trisail, apart from at the dock to test it, so that all took a bit of time. Overall, with all the cleaning up, making the bracket, resting, eating, getting everything ship-shaped, tidy on deck and down below, I was hoved to for about, I think about 12 hours, and in that time, if I'd been hoved to on the other tack, it would have been slightly better, but I didn't have the energy at first to do that, and so as I was hoved to, the boat did make progress to the southwest, which was the opposite direction that I was trying to go, so I lost quite a bit of time and distance there, but finally, at some point in the day, got everything ready, got sailing again, the trisail I was really happy to see worked very well, and the boat was sailing north again. Everything at that point was feeling much better, although the wind was still increasing, the boat felt really controlled, didn't have the boom banging around, and the new tiller pilot bracket was working well and much stronger. So yeah, that was the ordeal, then last night the wind picked up again, there was a bit of a lull yesterday, last night it picked up again, so I've been sailing a lot in about 25 to 35 knots with this setup, the number three jib, the staysail and the trisail, and the boat's been taking it really well. These kind of conditions, you know, they could be worse, but they're pretty serious, especially trying to go relatively upwind in 25 to 35 knots true, with a significant sea state, and the boat is, you know, there's a lot of movement inside, sure, I have been finding it hard to sleep, but it's very gentle movement generally speaking, the boat is taking it very well, I'm really pleased, and then last night finally I actually got some really good rest, I did sleep a lot better, I've been eating better, I got my appetite back, so, you know, it does take a few days to really get into the swing and the rhythm of a passage, and I feel like I'm really there now. So yeah, things are good, that was a really scary moment, I have to say, thinking that the mast had come down, and then realising that I'd crash jibed, and not knowing what damage that might be, and being out here all alone was a bit scary, but this trip was always going to be a big challenge for me on this boat, and, you know, I knew there would be things that would go wrong, I just wasn't sure what, so, you know, that's been the major thing, hopefully there's nothing else too major, but as well as being challenging and scary, it's also been really exhilarating, really exciting, really rewarding, and a lot of the time I felt really safe and in control of the boat, and it's really, really nice to actually sail for extended periods in these conditions and realise that it can be manageable if you just have the right sail setup. So yeah, that's about it, like I said I'm about two-thirds of the way across the Caribbean Sea, I'm thinking I might actually stop in Jamaica rather than going all the way to Cuba, it's only a little bit less distance, but I could fill up my diesel tanks in Jamaica, which I used a bit more diesel than I expected on the first part of the trip, and obviously I can't get any in Cuba, if I can even get into Cuba, and I won't be able to get any for a little while afterwards as well. The other advantage to stopping in Jamaica is that Mara might be able to join me there, she was going to be joining me later in the Bahamas, but seeing as I took a bit longer and her delivery is finished, she might be able to meet me in Jamaica. Obviously the plan is still to drop off the supplies in Cuba and I know some people are worried about that. I have done a lot of research, I've been in touch with the British Embassy, I've been in touch with my immigration lawyer, with several charities that work in Cuba that will be distributing the aid if I can get it through. I've been in touch with the Cuban authorities, it really should be pretty straightforward. Obviously I'm keeping a close eye on the security situation, I've got some contacts who should be able to give me some, a little bit maybe, of advance warning if anything is about to really go down. So I feel pretty safe about going in and I'm going to be really analysing the risks as they happen, as I get closer, and if it doesn't appear safe of course I'll just turn around, I'm not trying to risk everything. But if the risk is manageable, it's quite a rare opportunity I think, to be in a position to actually physically be able to bring supplies that are needed into a place like this, which really isn't getting any access by boat. So that's the reason I want to do it. Like I said, I'm not fundraising for this trip or for the supplies. Some people have donated, which I'm really grateful for, and that will just go towards the, you know, everything that I do and maintaining the boat and so on. I should just say if you do want to donate, and of course if you do I'm very very grateful and appreciative, but maybe just don't mention Cuba in the donation note, because I've had a few PayPal donations kind of locked because I guess they're a US company and if they think I'm fundraising for Cuba that could be a problem. Now I've had those unlocked when I've explained the actual situation, and it is all legal and above board, and I'm not fundraising. But yeah, just bear that in mind if you do want to add a note to a donation, because that's not really what the donation is for anyway. It's already been purchased. Wow. Okay, well that is it. If it all goes well, if I do stop in Jamaica I should be getting there tomorrow morning, hopefully. I'll try and keep posting these short updates. They're fun to make and it seems like people enjoy them. I do have a lot more footage, but I don't know if and when I'm going to be able to actually find time to make more cinematic video about this trip. I'd love to, but it might not be for a while. It's got a lot of hectic stuff coming up, a lot of plans. But anyway, thanks for watching. Thanks so much for supporting what I do. I really appreciate it, and I'll see you guys soon. Cheers.