Cam & Tom's Sailing Blog

Wed 5 Jun and Thu 6 Jun – Jib nightmares in Trizonia

Wednesday

We were having a good run of favourable wind so we were off again on Wednesday heading further east into the Gulf of Patras. We hoisted the sails as we rounded the last buoy and sailed along on a beam reach, closely followed by a Norwegian boat. Today was to be a day of sail changes. The wind turned light so we hoisted the gennaker, it lightened even more so we dropped the main and then it picked up so the gennaker was doused and out came the jib. Good for a bit of exercise!

One of the “milestones” in the Gulf is passing under the Rion Bridge. It’s one of the worlds longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges and the longest of the fully suspended type. The procedure to pass underneath is to call traffic control on VHF14 when you’re 5 miles out. They’ll tell you whether to pass on the north or south side (usually the north if you’re going west to east) then you’re requested to call again 1 mile out. We were instructed to proceed in the north channel with 1 pillar to port and 3 to starboard. By now the Norwegians had passed us up and we watched as they went underneath looking absolutely tiny, there was plenty of headroom for us!

We jibed after the bridge and sailed towards the anchorage we’d chosen but it wasn’t long until we realised it’d be very uncomfortable as wind and waves were piling straight in. We needed a plan B. Another 10 miles ahead was Trizonia Island with a bay that looked very protected so we jibed again and continued on.

A few hours later on our approach we prepared to furl in the jib, but it had other ideas and wouldn’t wrap away. We battled with it for a few minutes and finally convinced it to behave. Again the wind tomorrow looked great so our plan was to get this fixed then get an early start. We wound’t have time to see much of the island so we took Bob ashore for dinner.

Thursday

The forecast had the wind building mid morning so we were up, dressed and on deck at 0730. The plan was to unfurl the sail then drop it down onto the deck; a familiar procedure we’ve done a number of times before to remedy this repeating problem. With Tom on the bow and me in the cockpit we went to unfurl it but it came only half way out and jammed. Then, Sods Law, at the same moment the wind picked up which filled the half-out sail and completely unraveled it. This wasn’t ideal as the wind was filling the big sail but at least now we could drop it next time there was a lull in the wind. About a minute later the wind dropped so I released the halyard, but the sail wouldn’t come down! Now we were in trouble. With all his strength Tom was hanging onto the clew as the sail filled, which tacked the boat around forcing it to fill up on the other side. At one point we were 180 degrees to our anchor chain sailing downwind, thank god our anchor was holding. Our only option now was to attempt to wrap it around the forestay by hand, each time we were head-to-wind and each time the wind dropped which was becoming less frequent. Somehow we got a few turns on it and tried to secure it in place with bungee and by wrapping the spinnaker halyard around the forestay.

With the wind increasing it was clear we couldn’t continue to sit at anchor. There was still enough sail out to be flogging violently sending big vibrations through the rig and it wound’t be long until it shredded itself to pieces, or upheaved the anchor. As luck would have Trizonia has a decent sized harbour so we headed in; me on the helm and Tom switching between hanging on the sail and sorting our mooring lines and fenders. The biggest space was along a wall which unfortuantely had the wind blowing right onto it, but it was our best shot. It really was the scariest parking job we’ve ever done. Assisted by the jib we were sailing sideways towards the sharp stony wall, but with the engine in reverse and the helm hard over we came to a gentle rest along side protected by every fender we owned hanging on the starboard side. Thanking our lucky stars we secured the mooring lines, Tom rigged a fender board and we slumped in the cockpit absolutely exhausted but in one piece!

The excitement wasn’t over just yet as our berth was incredibly uncomfortable and the jib was still flogging noisily. We got a few more turns of the spinnaker halyard around it and went in search of a quieter spot. Quite how we’d get off the wall with 20 knots of wind was still a bit of an unknown but it was clear we couldn’t stay where we were. As we walked down the pontoon we spotted the Norwegians from yesterday so we stopped for a chat. Further into the marina it was like a different day, there was much less wind! We found a great spot where we’d be blown off the wall; much to the delight of our fenders and the boats gelcoat. As we walked back we discussed our moving strategy; we’d spring out the stern (using a bow spring) then put the engine hard in reverse. Just as we were preparing our lines (and wondering whether this was smart) one of the Norwegians came to give us a hand, then he and his friend walked over to our new berth to help us in. We were so relieved to have their help!

As the wind was still too strong to mess about with the jib we went to explore the island. Inhabited by just 64 people it’s a quiet sleepy place with one hotel and a few taverna’s set around a shallow bay which is used by the locals to get to the mainland by boat. The marina was built a good few years back but no-one owns it, due in part we were told to the massive amount of paperwork involved in purchasing it. Thanks to its good all round protection and it being completely free(!) it attracts sailors to leave their boat over the winter, or in some cases forever. We met a Belgian couple who planned to stay 1 night but were still there 4 months later! Sadly it became a bit of a graveyard and a number of half sunk yachts were removed a few months ago. 

What is that?

Our walk took us along an overgrown coastal path across which huge spiders had strung webs which criss-crossed over our heads like telephone wires. Bloody terrifying if like me you aren’t keen on insects! Later that day we went for a much needed shower, dinner and BIG glass of wine!

Although we loved Trizonia we wanted to hit the road again on Friday and continue down the Gulf towards the canal. For the second day in a row we set our alarm early and were up and out by 0600. Once on deck however we figured it was still too windy to get the jib out. It was blowing over our port side, meaning the jib would fill instantly and stay filled. Dejected we went back to bed but couldn’t sleep. There was one more option. Next to us and facing into the wind was an empty space. If we could just move there we’d be head-to-wind meaning the jib wouldn’t have the chance to fill. Back out and dressed we used our mooring lines to manoeuvre Bini 90 degrees into her new spot. Much better.

Nope, still too windy!

Now we had to figure out why the halyard was stuck which involved me going up the mast. Once up there it was immediately obvious what’d happened. For a quick fix we’d been loosening the halyard when furling in the sail, but this had caused it to wrap itself tightly around the top part of the forestay, something which should never happen. I untwisted it which allowed the sail to drop instantly. Yippee! With the swivel cleaned and sprayed with dry lubricant we hoisted the sail again and furled it in. After a quick breakfast and rigging some temporary stanchion bases for our furling line we were on our way again.

We’ve been reading a lot about our jib troubles and learnt that a lot of boats experience problems with their furling systems. There is more than one angry thread on the Dufour owners forum documenting how people struggle to furl their sails in or out, and the best recommendation is to replace the Facnor Furling system with something a bit more hardy. We definitely plan to change ours, but hopefully this can wait until the winter as it’s quite an involved job. The problem seems to be that the angle of the halyard to the forestay needs to be big enough to prevent it from wrapping around the forestay. There are even special retaining blocks that can be installed up on the mast, maybe we’ll give that a go one day!

Camilla Ransom

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