Following Friday’s Corinthian beer can race, Pat Broderick, who just bought the WylieCat 30 Nancy (ex-Carlene), ran into some trouble with the boat on the way back to Sausalito from the race finish in Tiburon:

Things didn't go as planned when we tried to lower the sail.

After an hour sitting at one of Sausalito YC's buoys, we gave up and motored into Anderson's Boatyard's lift dock area. We released what we could: clew, downhaul, and all the other lines, and tied the boat down to the float like it was a battleship at anchor. I stayed on the boat all night, listening to the wind come and go and all the banging that accompanied it.

This morning at 0630, Ron Anderson showed up and hoisted me up in a bosun's chair to the masthead using the Travel-Lift crane. After I pulled the pin on the shackle and the sail plummeted down, I found the halyard had jumped the sheave and was severely jammed beside it. There was also damage to the carbon fiber around one end of the sheave axle and perhaps a little more to one side. The sheave itself appeared badly chipped on both sides, so will likely be replaced as well.

The decision was to pull the mast on Monday and repair the damage. I also hope to re-engineer the area around the exit slot for the halyard so it ‘guides’ the halyard a little better. I spoke at length with Steve Seal about the same problem on his boat [Silkye] and have some ideas about what might be done to avoid a similar incident in the future.

Apparently we hoisted the last few inches of sail under load, and the short sheeting angle between the exit from the sheave and the headboard results in a ‘deflection’ of the guards which allows the halyard to jump off.

What does this mean for upcoming races? I don't know right now, but  I hope to have it all fixed and back together for next week's CYC Friday Night Race. I don't know if the SSS Farallones Race on Saturday is a go either. 

I want to thank Leah, Nick, Ted, and Jim for their help last night.  Without that I don't know what I would have done.

Pat Broderick