# Death of Crew Member in ARC Rally



## MarkofSeaLife

“World Cruising Club is sad to report the death of crew member Max Delannoy on board the ARC yacht Agecanonix during the night of 26/27 November. 

Tragedy at Sea Aboard Atlantic Rally for Cruisers Yacht Agecanonix (sailuniverse.com) 

Crewman Dies on ARC Yacht in North Atlantic; Circumstances Not Yet Known (afloat.ie)

Mark


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## Chris271828

This article has an update at the end. Very unfortunate.

“UPDATE: As Max Delannoy was taking the helm for his night shift, the boom violently hit him in the head. Philippe Anglade, who was in the cockpit, was able to hold him back from falling into the water, but he died suddenly.”









Tragedy on Atlantic Rally for Cruisers >> Scuttlebutt Sailing News


Hosted by the World Cruising Club, the 36th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) began their ocean crossing on November 21 from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria




www.sailingscuttlebutt.com


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## Davil

not sure if this is the boat model in question
the boom seems relatively low?
this is a tragedy and a remainder.
just heartbreaking





X4³ |







www.x-yachts.com


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## paulk

Photo shows boom is broken. Unclear when that happened. Mayday was sent around midnight on the 26/27 NOV. Conditions apparently Force 8, with seas 4-5 m high. Cruise ship arrived evening of 27th, with wind increasing to 40kts around 21h30 during attempted rescue. They then decided to wait for daylight - 28NOV before taking crew off. It appears that the vessel involved, Agecanonix, is an X 4.3


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## hpeer

I wonder what percent of cruising deaths are boom/head wack related? 
We have a boom brake fitted and generally keep it pretty tight.


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## Izzy

I'm guessing an accidental jib caused the boom to break which then hit him in the head. The boom on that boat seems to be plenty high enough. RIP


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## RegisteredUser

Aware of WHAT CAN happen


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## MarkofSeaLife

When we came across the Atlantic from France to the Caribbean this year we had the Autopilot click off. We were dead down wind and did a gybe in about 35 knots (true). It broke every block on the mainsheet and the traveler. It's just went BANG and there was confetti of metal.
As it's a cruising boat the boom is high. But if it had connected with someone 😕

The force in an accidental gybe is tremendous.


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## davidpm

MarkofSeaLife said:


> When we came across the Atlantic from France to the Caribbean this year we had the Autopilot click off. We were dead down wind and did a gybe in about 35 knots (true). It broke every block on the mainsheet and the traveler. It's just went BANG and there was confetti of metal.
> As it's a cruising boat the boom is high. But if it had connected with someone 😕
> 
> The force in an accidental gybe is tremendous.


Did you have a jib preventer or break of some sort that failed?


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## SanderO

hmmmm DDW is tricky and with swept back spreader the main (boom) is cannot go all the way out and is MORE subject to jibes and getting back winded. Rig a jibe preventer or use a brake.

I try not to sail DDW in stronger than 15 True... 10 or so apparent. If I would go below I would head up a bit to provide more jib insurance.


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## MarkofSeaLife

davidpm said:


> Did you have a jib preventer or break of some sort that failed?



Yes, the gybe preventer blew into 1,000 pieces of fluff like a ticker tape parade. 
I have it set for about 600 kgs so its designed to break without pinning the boat in a knock-down when the crew is below. But that stayed intact, the preventer line itself broke.  
Yes, it would have been impossible to have a crew member on deck at that wind speed whilst DDW. I would have brought it up to a safe wind angle before going forward.
One of the problems with short handed / Solo is that a squall/wind shift at night can easily put 150 degree wind angle to 190 in about 2 seconds whilst the wind speed is doubling. 

Mark


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## Don L

I have rigged preventers a couple of times now and none I feel were going to save me or the rig. The last time I got into long term conditions that were likely to cause a violent gybe I spend 3 days NOT going the real direction I wanted to reduce the cause of it happening (it still did a few times). That was just winds into the 30s and seas of 10-15'. It scares the poop out of me to think about conditions worst and I was 110% an idiot for getting into those conditions.


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## tempest

DDW in 35 kn. Do you really need a mainsail? Wouldn't a reefed headsail suffice, maybe adjust the course to a deep broad reach? I'm Just trying to understand the thought process. I once did 30 + hours with only a handkerchief of a jib in pretty decent seas in < 35 kn. I don't think I'd have gotten there faster had I raised the main.


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## Don L

Sometimes it may be about how safely you can drop the main. Lots of decisions don't hold up to hindsight.


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## SanderO

It may make sense as wind pipes up and you're facing hrs of wind on the stern to drop the main and use the roller furling genny.... which you can reef by rolling in.


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## MarkofSeaLife

tempest said:


> DDW in 35 kn. Do you really need a mainsail? Wouldn't a reefed headsail suffice, maybe adjust the course to a deep broad reach?


OK, I don't want to hp into the details of my minor problem in a thread about a tragedy. 
But. 
We were we were nit actually DDW before I went off watch. 
It was as close the DDW as you can safely go in those conditions. There's a point in my boat where all the sails are full, about 150 degrees. 
When I went down to my bunny rug leaving Marjorie on watch 2 things happened, the wind picked up greatly. (it was not a tropical squall, but a normal subtropical 15 minute blast. 
It helped, or alone, the AP stopped, the boat slewed and we gybed.


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## Jeff_H

I have been there for that type of thing in two separate ways. I have been on a course of 135-140 degrees and got hit with a forceful gust that was roughly also a 60 degree windshift which jibed the main instantaneously. As the boom started to go, I reversed the wheel but the sheet caught Barbara who was sitting on the the former windward side of the cockpit. The spun wheel didn't prevent the jibe, but it reduced the force a lot. 

But the other way that has happened is in a large quartering sea under autopilot. In that case the boat was solidly broad reached in some big wind and waves. A bigger wave at an odd angle caught the stern and spun the boat into a jibe. This was a full keel boat and even with killing the autopilot and spinning the wheel we could not reverse what was essentially a death roll until we cut the preventer.

Jeff


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## SanderO

Jeff_H said:


> I have been there for that type of thing in two separate ways. I have been on a course of 135-140 degrees and got hit with a forceful gust that was roughly also a 60 degree windshift which jibed the main instantaneously. As the boom started to go, I reversed the wheel but the sheet caught Barbara who was sitting on the the former windward side of the cockpit. The spun wheel didn't prevent the jibe, but it reduced the force a lot.
> 
> But the other way that has happened is in a large quartering sea under autopilot. In that case the boat was solidly broad reached in some big wind and waves. A bigger wave at an odd angle caught the stern and spun the boat into a jibe. This was a full keel boat and even with killing the autopilot and spinning the wheel we could not reverse what was essentially a death roll until we cut the preventer.
> 
> Jeff


Those large quartering seas are hard on an AP which really can't turn the helm the amount required.... at least my below decks Alpha 3000. The AP makes relatively small corrections. Mine probably can move the rudder post at most 15 degrees either way (guess). I pretty much hand steer in large quartering seas. My experience was that the AP led by the wave rounded up to a beam reach... way over powered.. and the AP simply could not hold the broad reach.


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## MarkofSeaLife

@tempest said why have a main up at all... 
At sea the boat rolls a lot with only a headsail and biggish waves. 
The main is good to sort that out. 

😊 

Mark


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## SanderO

But you shouldn't need much of a main for that purpose. I have a fractional and the main is huge... with swept back spreaders it tends to misbehave. And when those huge quartering waves drives the boat... rudder is not terribly effective to begin with.


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## Movingrightalong...

MarkofSeaLife said:


> When we came across the Atlantic from France to the Caribbean this year we had the Autopilot click off. We were dead down wind and did a gybe in about 35 knots (true). It broke every block on the mainsheet and the traveler. It's just went BANG and there was confetti of metal.
> As it's a cruising boat the boom is high. But if it had connected with someone 😕
> 
> The force in an accidental gybe is tremendous.


Once descending into Chicago I had the autopilot on the 737 (not a Max) I was flying click off. The flight directors went away, the autothrottles went away and I was hand flying the thing like a Cessna 172. I tried to re-engage them, they wouldn't re-engage so I continued to fly. Eventually, the system recovered and came back to life.

I would take that scenario any day over the one you describe. Add to that the fact that the autopilot systems on sailboats are generally not as robust and lack redundancy, and it makes a very good argument for the windvane.


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## SanderO

With predicted high winds use a storm trysail. Offshore mi=y trysail was hanked on to a track I installed on the mast, bagged and ready to hoist.


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## jtsailjt

After hearing of way too many accidents where sailors are badly injured or killed by getting hit in the head by a boom, the height of the boom is one of the first things I notice about a sailboat. Booms at head height just seem like an accident waiting to happen and I regard them similarly to someone leaving a sharp knife laying around. 
I recently had an unintentional jibe occurrence but much less dramatic because winds were only 25-30 knots true (about 20-22 indicated) and nothing broke except a wine glass, but a few lessons learned from these 2 events for me. My inexperienced sailor friend was on watch at 2 AM and it was chilly so he was under shelter in the front of the cockpit so when the A/P suddenly gave up and mainsail jibed he was thrown off balance and had to scramble to get around the wheel. I had sort of led him to think that the normal place to stand watch was up there because that’s where I normally am in all but large following seas, but we hadn’t encountered those yet and I didn’t think to mention it. I was initially asleep in the aft cabin and was awakened by the sudden change in direction and amount and angle of heel as well as the sound of a wineglass breaking as it somehow got past the bungee that normally keeps them in the rack. I hadn’t cautioned him about how squirrelly it can suddenly get with fairly big following seas. In conditions like that it would have been better for watchstander to be located at the helm so he could quickly grab the wheel or to have briefed him to watch the wind angle and don’t let it get greater than about 150. When I went off watch I had both main and jib partially reefed and configured for the broad reach we were on but would probably have been better off to have the main more deeply reefed and sheeted tight to provide stability but lessen the forces in a potential jibe. I try to brief crew on things I think they will need to know but sometimes it feels like there’s a fine line between covering necessary items and making the briefing so long and overly detailed that the crews eyes glaze over so no useful information is communicated. But in the future I think I’ll try to emphasize the possible effects of following seas anytime I go off watch when we’re reaching and there’s any possibility of a wind shift.


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## Jeff_H

A couple thoughts on the comments above:
-I agree that there is no reason for the boom to be less than standing headroom plus a little bit above the cockpit sole on an aft cockpit cruising boat that is bigger than 35 or so feet. Its harder to get that standing headroom on mid-cockpit boats under 40 feet since the cockpit soles tend to be higher on smaller mid-cockpit boats. .
-Often when someone is hit by a boom they are on the side deck or standing on a cockpit seat.
-Running or even broad reaching under the storm trysail is very difficulty since they don't have a boom to stabilize them.
-The mainsail is no more likely to jibe with swept back spreaders than with inline spreaders. What limits the rotation of the sail is the position of the lower shrouds. The lower shroud are generally further aft than when there is in-line shrouds in order to provide the stability to the rig that would otherwise be provided by the swept back spreaders.

Jeff


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## MarkofSeaLife

jtsailjt said:


> I try to brief crew on things I think they will need to know but sometimes it feels like there’s a fine line between covering necessary items and making the briefing so long and overly detailed that the crews eyes glaze over so no useful information is communicated. But in the future I think I’ll try to emphasize the possible effects of following seas anytime I go off watch when we’re reaching and there’s any possibility of a wind shift.


Exactly. You can't brief them on everything possibility. And at night 'following seas" can be really difficult to determine if theres less than a full moon for the less experienced helmsman. 

There is a risk in offshore sailing. 

Mark


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## PhilCarlson

The boom warrants healthy respect. A few years ago my friend Kait got clobbered in the back of the head as she was going for the leeward winch. Stuff was happening and she didn't pay attention, I didn't see it until too late. I got the first half of "look out!" out of my mouth before her bell got rung. I think the difference between a skull fracture and a headache that day was the way she had her hair tied up.


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## SanderO

It's not a bad idea to set your boom high enough that it can't whack someone. Try to avoid DDW or close to it headings.


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## GlanRock

This is a shame, a horrible accident. I feel terribly for the family and friends of this man and for the two crew who were right there when it happened. That's that helpless feeling when you see something but there's just no time to react before it happens.

My better half and her brother were on a J24 in Annapolis a few years back, racing of course. I do not recall the entire story, but the boom did connect with his head, knocking him senseless and nearly overboard. As I recall it was she that scampered across the deck to grab him before he continued to go over. They actually cancelled that race due to several issues happening in that race, but of course the one they were on was done immediately in order to get him to shore.

It was not an uneventful day for me either, a long story, but I was actually bringing our previous boat down to Annapolis alone while those events took place. I was rounding the northern edge of Hart-Miller Island when I activated auto-pilot, I was motoring because I was alone and the winds were howling, and set course near due south for the Bay Bridge. I'd been away from the pier for perhaps 45 minutes by this time and because I was alone had to forego my typical 'systems checks' until I was far enough out to be sure I could go below quickly, check things out, and get back above decks without running into anything. That was when, to my extreme dismay, I found that I was taking on water from an unknown source. As I stared into the engine room, one of the checks, I found water surrounding the fuel tank and within inches of topping it. This meant that I had hundreds of gallons of water in the bilge at this point and had had no idea. I mentally calculated I might have maybe another 45 minutes before the bottom of the engine would be submerged. I leapt to the panel to see the auto-bilge wasn't running, the why unimportant, and flipped it to manual. I opened the bilge access and felt a pang in my stomach that confirmed indeed I was flooding. Instantly I made my way to the helm, and changed course to point myself directly at the Island. My thought was that if I could run her aground, it was better than sinking in 15'-18' of water, and I could get there within 5-8 minutes by increasing the throttle. I engaged auto-pilot, with my course taking me to the closest point of intercept with land. Back down into the boat I am trying to take note where the water level is, and try to remember where it was. This was tricky, due to the aforementioned high winds coming from the west mostly, and rocking the boat a bit. The waves were actually not too bad because I'd rounded the island and it was blocking the rolls coming out of Middle River for me. If memory serves, I couldn't decide if I was getting water out fast than in at this point. I will try from here to more rapidly detail the rest of this in a more compact form as this story could easily be pages long. I found I was getting water out faster than in. I corrected auto-pilot to take me away from intentional grounding, and I bounced back and forth inside and out of the cabin. I made contact with BoatUS, I realize now that USCG is probably what your thinking. However on this day there were no other boats out, except for the crazies down in Annapolis racing, but I had zero vessels in my view where normally there would be literally hundreds just around the bend on Hart-Miller (and around it, etc). All I was doing was motoring down to drop and anchor and meet my wife and her brother after what we presumed would be an adventurous day of sailboat races, instead of the horrific scare they got (he had blood coming out of his ear). Back to it then. The bilge kept shutting itself off after running for X amount of time, where X was minutes, and keeping ahead of the incoming water. I was looking for the source and unable to locate it. My guess was it was below the 'water line' that existed on the interior now. The _new _waterline I didn't particularly care for. I was on the phone with BoatUS and they were mobilizing a vessel who would be coming out of Middle River to meet up with me. I knew I was getting water out faster than in, and now after 10 minutes or so, bouncing back and forth making sure the bilge was operating as near to continuous as possible I also felt certain I was not going to sink. I still hadn't found that source, and still had a fair amount of water down there but it was definitely decreasing in volume, after all, my fuel tank no longer appeared to be floating. Always a plus! I did cancel the BoatUS call at that point, assuring them I would be in touch should the situation devolve. Fast forward to docking an Endeavour 40' CC alone, stern first, into our slip. If not for the wind, it might have have went as well. At that time our slip was such that a prevailing west in blew us out of the slip. So I had tied a line to the stern, starboard cleat, ready to toss. There wasn't anyone there waiting on the finger pier unfortunately. As I backed her in, and this vessel couldn't back up straight at any other time, except today thanks to the went wind blowing despite blockage a steady 14-17. I got between the first set of piles, slowing heading between the next set. As soon as I got close enough, I left it in idle, in reverse, and jumped to the finger pier with that line and started pulling. About 6 feet needed, the wind shifted a bit and was blowing her away from me, I was wishing I'd given her a bit more than idle at this point. Nothing to be done but pull, hoping I didn't end up in the water somehow. Wind shift and decrease, thank you! I got her over near me and back the 6 feet and started wraps around that pile I'd been eyeing for at least... 10 seconds. Got back aboard, gave her more juice to get me back a bit more, and quickly back over to the finger pier and tossing the docklines over the rails to get her tied up. The engine was keeping her close, otherwise the wind would have blown her right out, and that one line kept her back and close to the finger pier that I could make the hops. Whew. The end. It was later I found out about their harrowing ordeal. Then I told the Admiral the bad news. I wouldn't be coming down, until I figured out why the boat was trying to sink.

At this point I was realizing the water egress was actually a very slow thing. It was coming from the raw water intake filter. I hate pointing fingers but the day before, her brother had opened it up and without realizing it lost the rubber seal from the cap and screwed it back on again. It took a while for me to find that, since that little spot was on the port side of the engine, not easily detectable until I spent some quality time basically sitting on top of the engine (after it'd cooled down!).

Please note I didn't really proofread this much, could be mixed up a bit, and it happened 5 - 6 years ago I think. The memory ain't what it used to be.


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## MastUndSchotbruch

GlanRock said:


> This is a shame, a horrible accident. I feel terribly for the family and friends of this man and for the two crew who were right there when it happened. That's that helpless feeling when you see something but there's just no time to react before it happens.
> 
> My better half and her brother were on a J24 in Annapolis a few years back, racing of course. I do not recall the entire story, but the boom did connect with his head, knocking him senseless and nearly overboard. As I recall it was she that scampered across the deck to grab him before he continued to go over. They actually cancelled that race due to several issues happening in that race, but of course the one they were on was done immediately in order to get him to shore.
> 
> It was not an uneventful day for me either, a long story, but I was actually bringing our previous boat down to Annapolis alone while those events took place. I was rounding the northern edge of Hart-Miller Island when I activated auto-pilot, I was motoring because I was alone and the winds were howling, and set course near due south for the Bay Bridge. I'd been away from the pier for perhaps 45 minutes by this time and because I was alone had to forego my typical 'systems checks' until I was far enough out to be sure I could go below quickly, check things out, and get back above decks without running into anything. That was when, to my extreme dismay, I found that I was taking on water from an unknown source. As I stared into the engine room, one of the checks, I found water surrounding the fuel tank and within inches of topping it. This meant that I had hundreds of gallons of water in the bilge at this point and had had no idea. I mentally calculated I might have maybe another 45 minutes before the bottom of the engine would be submerged. I leapt to the panel to see the auto-bilge wasn't running, the why unimportant, and flipped it to manual. I opened the bilge access and felt a pang in my stomach that confirmed indeed I was flooding. Instantly I made my way to the helm, and changed course to point myself directly at the Island. My thought was that if I could run her aground, it was better than sinking in 15'-18' of water, and I could get there within 5-8 minutes by increasing the throttle. I engaged auto-pilot, with my course taking me to the closest point of intercept with land. Back down into the boat I am trying to take note where the water level is, and try to remember where it was. This was tricky, due to the aforementioned high winds coming from the west mostly, and rocking the boat a bit. The waves were actually not too bad because I'd rounded the island and it was blocking the rolls coming out of Middle River for me. If memory serves, I couldn't decide if I was getting water out fast than in at this point. I will try from here to more rapidly detail the rest of this in a more compact form as this story could easily be pages long. I found I was getting water out faster than in. I corrected auto-pilot to take me away from intentional grounding, and I bounced back and forth inside and out of the cabin. I made contact with BoatUS, I realize now that USCG is probably what your thinking. However on this day there were no other boats out, except for the crazies down in Annapolis racing, but I had zero vessels in my view where normally there would be literally hundreds just around the bend on Hart-Miller (and around it, etc). All I was doing was motoring down to drop and anchor and meet my wife and her brother after what we presumed would be an adventurous day of sailboat races, instead of the horrific scare they got (he had blood coming out of his ear). Back to it then. The bilge kept shutting itself off after running for X amount of time, where X was minutes, and keeping ahead of the incoming water. I was looking for the source and unable to locate it. My guess was it was below the 'water line' that existed on the interior now. The _new _waterline I didn't particularly care for. I was on the phone with BoatUS and they were mobilizing a vessel who would be coming out of Middle River to meet up with me. I knew I was getting water out faster than in, and now after 10 minutes or so, bouncing back and forth making sure the bilge was operating as near to continuous as possible I also felt certain I was not going to sink. I still hadn't found that source, and still had a fair amount of water down there but it was definitely decreasing in volume, after all, my fuel tank no longer appeared to be floating. Always a plus! I did cancel the BoatUS call at that point, assuring them I would be in touch should the situation devolve. Fast forward to docking an Endeavour 40' CC alone, stern first, into our slip. If not for the wind, it might have have went as well. At that time our slip was such that a prevailing west in blew us out of the slip. So I had tied a line to the stern, starboard cleat, ready to toss. There wasn't anyone there waiting on the finger pier unfortunately. As I backed her in, and this vessel couldn't back up straight at any other time, except today thanks to the went wind blowing despite blockage a steady 14-17. I got between the first set of piles, slowing heading between the next set. As soon as I got close enough, I left it in idle, in reverse, and jumped to the finger pier with that line and started pulling. About 6 feet needed, the wind shifted a bit and was blowing her away from me, I was wishing I'd given her a bit more than idle at this point. Nothing to be done but pull, hoping I didn't end up in the water somehow. Wind shift and decrease, thank you! I got her over near me and back the 6 feet and started wraps around that pile I'd been eyeing for at least... 10 seconds. Got back aboard, gave her more juice to get me back a bit more, and quickly back over to the finger pier and tossing the docklines over the rails to get her tied up. The engine was keeping her close, otherwise the wind would have blown her right out, and that one line kept her back and close to the finger pier that I could make the hops. Whew. The end. It was later I found out about their harrowing ordeal. Then I told the Admiral the bad news. I wouldn't be coming down, until I figured out why the boat was trying to sink.
> 
> At this point I was realizing the water egress was actually a very slow thing. It was coming from the raw water intake filter. I hate pointing fingers but the day before, her brother had opened it up and without realizing it lost the rubber seal from the cap and screwed it back on again. It took a while for me to find that, since that little spot was on the port side of the engine, not easily detectable until I spent some quality time basically sitting on top of the engine (after it'd cooled down!).
> 
> Please note I didn't really proofread this much, could be mixed up a bit, and it happened 5 - 6 years ago I think. The memory ain't what it used to be.


Glad it all ended well!


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## hpeer

Practical Sailor article on twin sheet alternatives and boom (gybe) control.









Do Twin Sheets Better Control the Mainsail? - Practical Sailor


Since 1974, Practical Sailor’s independent testing has taken the guesswork out of boat and gear buying.




www.practical-sailor.com


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## sailorbill7

tempest said:


> DDW in 35 kn. Do you really need a mainsail? Wouldn't a reefed headsail suffice, maybe adjust the course to a deep broad reach? I'm Just trying to understand the thought process. I once did 30 + hours with only a handkerchief of a jib in pretty decent seas in < 35 kn. I don't think I'd have gotten there faster had I raised the main.


It only took me 30 odd years to realize that Ha no serious now any thing over 20 down wind im happy with the furler out & main stowed mind i do a lot of solo sailing so anything thats easy ???


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