With the end of ORION’s sailing season on the not-too-distant horizon, I was anxious to take her out for a sail this past Sunday, October 11th. A chill was in the air, and although there was a small craft advisory scheduled to take effect at 6:00 pm that evening with sustained winds of 20-25 knots gusting to 30, I was determined to sneak in an afternoon sail before things started to pick up. Besides, when I arrived in Niantic in the early afternoon, everything was quite calm, so I hopped aboard and motored out through the bridges into Niantic Bay.
It didn’t take long for the skies to become overcast, and the wind picked up to a solid 10-15 knots coming from the southeast. I put a reef in the main and thrashed to windward close-hauled; my plan was to sail out far enough to allow me to tack over and grab a mooring in nearby Jordan Cove for lunch. Even though it was plenty windy with seas two to three feet, it wasn’t uncomfortable, but I was thankful I had reefed when I did.
Just as I was about to come about on a starboard tack to head for Jordan Cove, I noticed something unnerving. The starboard lower shroud had somehow parted at the chainplate and was swinging freely, the turnbuckle occasionally bumping against the side of the cabin. My heart went in my throat as I recalled reading stories of boats who had become dismasted when a shroud - upper or lower - failed in heavy winds. Fortunately, as I was on a port tack, all the load was off the starboard side, so I forced myself to remain calm, stay on that tack, and take a closer look at what had happened, even as ORION was bucking like a bronco.
Somehow, the cotter ring securing the turnbuckle jaw pin in place at the chainplate must have worked its way out as the pin was missing and the chainplate was intact. I vaguely remembered noticing earlier in the season that the ring had become straightened out a bit and needed to be replaced; I now kicked myself for not remembering to attach a new one.
My first priority was to make sure I kept the load off the starboard side, but I needed to come about at some point to return home, and if I stayed on this tack, it would bring me further and further away. By this time, I was half-way across Long Island Sound, and didn’t want to be caught out there should the forecasted winds pick up sooner than the weathermen anticipated. I carefully came up into the wind as much as I dared and quickly furled the jib before falling back on course. Once I got up a little more speed, crashing through the waves, I came up into the wind again and dropped the mainsail. With the load off the mast and ORION bobbing around more or less in place, I went into the cabin and rummaged through my toolbox, finding a cable tie that would keep the shroud from flogging around. I secured it to its original chainplate hole and, knowing the cable tie wouldn’t be able to stand any sort of load on it, I unclipped the main halyard from the sail and brought it over and secured it to the chainplate as a jury-rigged shroud.
Luckiily, I had plenty of gas to get home, so I lowered the motor, started it up, and made my way back into Niantic Bay, through the bridges, and into the River. This was it for me - the last sail of the year. So, I beached ORION and removed her mainsail, rudder, and all the gear from her cabin before motoring her back out to her mooring and rowing back in. I’ll unstep her mast and haul her out the next time I get up to Niantic. It was quite an end to this sailing season.
I was fortunate in a number of ways with this incident: The shroud parted on the leeward side, not the windward, so there wasn’t any load on it. While this may have indeed allowed the damaged cotter pin to work itself out, it also allowed me to assess the situation carefully and not panic. If it had been on the windward side, the mast could have buckled, which would have been devastating. Also, it was a lower shroud, not an upper, which doesn’t have quite so much tension on it anyway. I felt confident coming about once the sails were down that the mast would stay up just fine, even without the added security of my main halyard jury-rigged as a temporary shroud. If it had been an upper shroud, the main halyard would have been essential. And, again, if it had been an upper shroud on the windward side, ORION would have dismasted with so much load on the mast. Finally, I had enough gas and was close enough to land that I was able to motor home without any issues.
Lesson learned: Check the cotter rings and pins often, and replace any damaged ones immediately. It looks like I might be replacing all of them over the winter just to be on the safe side.