26 May - Limping to Vava'u

My satphone email service indicated that this post was sent yesterday.
I've since found out otherwise.

0600 position 17-16S 174-03. 78 miles from Niuatoputapu

Fixing the mast head light had been on our to-do list for too long and we
were in a smooth anchorage, so Rocky pulled me up to work on it right
after we completed our morning email exchange. I fiddled around with the
light and got it working and while I was up there took the opportunity to
do a rig check. I was dismayed to find that four of the nineteen wire
strands that make up the head stay had broken where they exit the swage
fitting on the top of the mast. This was not good. If four were broken
it was likely that all or some of the others were fatigued and about to
break also. This wire holds the mast up and supports the jib roller
furling system. If it fails, down comes the mast.

There was zero possibility of getting it fixed in Niuatoputapu. I had
incorrectly stated in a previous post that a supply ship arrives there
monthly. I since found out that the ship arrives quarterly, and the next
one is due in a week or so. No way could we wait four months to get this
fixed. We needed to get to Vava'u. We had planned to leave for Vava'u
first thing Monday morning because the weather looked good on Monday and
Tuesday, with winds from the east and north east for our 165 mile sail due
south. On Wednesday the winds go back to the south east for an indefinite
period so we want to be in before then. The winds today weren't ideal,
nineteen knots from 114 degrees true, but if we left today under shortened
sail we could be pretty sure of arriving before the south easterly winds
return on Wednesday.

So that was what we decided to do. Sia had invited us to go to Sunday
lunch which apparently was a whole village affair. We were looking
forward to that, but had to cancel to make our departure.

Most of the load on the head stay comes from the horizontal pull of the
jib along its entire length. Eliminate the jib, and you eliminate most of
the head stay stress. So we took off the jib, folded it up, and put it
below. Then we took the spinnaker halyard, jib halyard, and topping lift
to the bow and tightened them as much as we dared to further reduce the
load on the head stay. In addition to reducing the head stay load, these
lines will hopefully keep the mast standing if the head stay fails. Then
we got the dinghy on deck and departed at about noon. We set a reefed
main, headed around the west end of the island, and hardened up for
Vava'u.

It took some experimenting to figure out how to sail Moku pe'a without the
jib, but we have averaged a little better than four knots since our
departure. It has been bumpy and wet and uncomfortable, but the head stay
and mast are still there. We have seas from three directions and the wind
is just forward of the beam at about eighteen knots. Conditions should
improve as we get further south.

We are in contact with Lori every twelve hours, just in case, and are
looking forward to a sunrise arrival in Vava'u on Tuesday.