[C320-list] BLUE WATER SAILING

[Tbuilder at aol.com]

Ken, You are certainly dragging up my past!!! 
 
The "incident" happened on the 1999 Fastnet Race on FIGMENT II #212.  It was 
a fairly tough race with winds about 5/6/7 and always on the nose - of  
course!! We had done around 500 miles with about 150 to go so we were about 30  
hours from the finish at Plymouth. About 2 in the morning and I was  "asleep" in 
the aft cabin when the crew shouted down - "the wheel is just  spinning". We 
rigged the emergency steering "thing" - you should try and  use that sometime - 
it's not easy - and got the boat hove to.  The quadrant  looked OK but the 
steering cable was very slack but not broken - which was  what I initially 
thought the problem was. We stripped off the cover below the  pedastal in the aft 
cabin - with the boat pitching nicely - and discovered  inside that the 
starboard turning block which takes the cable aft to the  quadrant had torn out of the 
steel base. The base appeared to be made of  mild steel - it's an Edson 
fitting - and the inevitable bit of water leaking  down the pedestal had caused 
rust and weakened the whole thing. We managed to  hold it in place by tying a 
line round it and then took the line through one of  the aft cabin port lights 
and up to the port primary winch. We tightened the  whole thing up until it 
creaked and it worked fine and it took us back to  Plymouth. We even had the kite 
up for the last few hours until that blew out in  35 knots!!
 
When we got to Plymouth the engineers quick fix was to "strap" the block  
fitting to one of the big pedestal bolts with a couple of jubilee clips which  
was a very neat solution. That took us 100 miles or so along the south coast to  
Southampton where Edson UK fitted a new stainless steel unit the next day.
 
I must admit that I hadn't checked these turning blocks for corrosion  so 
owners of older boats might find it a worthwhile exercise. It should  only take a 
few minutes lying on your back to drop the cover. Our new boat  seems to have 
a stainless unit.
 
Confession completed!!
 
Cheers       

Alec  Blanc
FIGMENT  III  #1081
Lochaber  Watersports
Ballachulish
Scotland
_www.lochaberwatersports.co.uk_ (http://www.lochaberwatersports.co.uk/) 
01855  821391 / 07831 846025