Sunday March 8, 2015

Miles Traveled:  50.6 nm

We pulled the anchor at 6:12AM and motored out of the harbor at Ensenada Vieques.  Our friends Bob and Jeanne on Walkabout left 10 minutes after us. The wind was very light so we kept motoring toward the SE point of Puerto Rico in 6 foot swells.  By 6:45AM the wind came up and we rolled out the jib.  We went along downwind and tried to keep the jib full.  We thought the jib would work better than the main sail downwind but the jib is way more sensitive to the wind on the opposite side than the main sail so the main is the best sail to use.  As we sailed along at 8:05AM the topping lift holding up the boom and furled main broke and the boom came crashing down on the dodger.  It broke at the top so the wire was trailing in the water.  I gathered it up and tied it down on the cabin top then secured the boom so it wouldn’t move. I had to unhook a few quarter turns to relieve the oressure on our canvas go between.  We reached PR and turned slightly north to follow the coast.  At 10:13 we reefed the jib as a squall was coming and the wind was 18Kts and could go higher.  It took until 11:18AM for the rain to reach us and wind never did go higher.  At 1:28 we went through a pass between barrier islands and we now in smooth water.  Up to this point we have been going downwind in biggish swells and Changes was rolling a lot.  We both enjoyed the calmer motion.  At 2:16 we entered the harbor at Salinas and at 2:28 we were anchored.  Walkabout came in an hour after us as they sailed some and we motor sailed the whole way.

Phil