8th February, 2025

The Ipala Sleigh Ride

It was just after dawn on Tuesday, January 28th when we weighed anchor and headed out. The sky was a clear blue. There was little wind. The sea was relatively flat giving us the perfect opportunity to spot whales. And spot whales we did. Everywhere! Moving, jumping, diving. It was a delightful way to start our day as we motor-sailed toward Cabo Corrientes.

We closed in on Corrientes, and the seas began to toss the boat about. It is a common event due to the change of direction in the mountain range. In the bay, the mountains run north to south and then as we round the corner of Corrientes, they change to more of a northwest to southeast direction. This causes what I call “the washing machine effect.” Not much fun.

The winds slowly picked up to ten knots as we passed the Corrientes lighthouse. Around 1130, I went down to fix lunch and when I came back up, the sea state was decidedly different. I commented on the white caps and watched as the winds continued to escalate while we finished our lunch. With 14 knots of wind, we were sailing seven knots downwind. All good. Except the wind kept picking up and before we knew it, we had 35 knots and six-foot seas, (with the occasional eight-to-ten-foot wave) dead down wind. Not good.

(This 35-knot wind was forecasted for Monday. That is why we waited until Tuesday. According to our friends who left on Monday, it never got over 18 knots. It seems the wind gods were a little late in their delivery and didn’t arrive until Tuesday. Just in time for our rounding.)

We were only about seven miles out from Ipala. Jay figured we could ride it out, hoping the wind would ease up when we got closer to the anchorage. We would sail a little past Ipala, turn into the wind, and drop the sail.

The sail was not reefed, so we were overpowered making it challenging for Jay at the helm. We had an accidental jibe. This is when the wind crosses over the stern of the boat and takes the sail and boom crashing from one side of the boat to the other. It is very unnerving and can be seriously damaging. Next, Jay and Marshall worked together to do a controlled jibe to bring the sail back on the correct wind angle for our destination.

The wind was erratic and every so often, it felt like we were in a vortex, with the wind shifting directions one way, then the other. We ducked as two more accidental jibes knocked us around.

We knew we had to get the sail down as soon as possible. “Let’s wait until a lull in the wind and I’ll turn into the wind. Marshall, you get the sail down as quickly as possible,” Jay said.

While we were waiting, the hull was rocking side to side and up and down with the waves. We were taking waves over the bow and over the side of the boat. Everyone was holding on tightly and I was praying for our safety.

A lull did come. There was a collective momentary sigh of relief.

BAM! We were back up to 35 knots of wind in an instant. “Where did that come from?” we asked each other. Before we could catch our breath, another accidental jibe.

“Duck!” This time the boom got hung up on the stay (the solid metal wire that holds up the mast). Jay had to turn the boat enough to get the boom off the stay. When he did, another accidental jibe happened.

“The boom broke!” Marshall yelled.

“What?” Jay said, incredulously.

“The boom broke,” Marshall repeated as he ran to the mast.

The gooseneck, a solid bronze bracket that was holding the boom to the mast, broke away from the mast. Now we had a fifteen-foot boom with a full 310 square foot mainsail bobbing free in 35 knots of wind and six-foot waves!

“Watch your head!” I yelled to Jay as the end of the boom swayed back and forth.

I watched as Marshall surveyed the damage. He had a slight smile as he got ready to take down the sail. I took that as a good sign.

Taking down the sail was yet another challenge. Cadenza just wouldn’t go into the wind. There was too much pressure. Jay eased the sheet which released some of the pressure. When we were only about 30 degrees off the wind, Marshall was able to wrangle the sail down. With that done, he tied off the boom.

“You are not going to believe this,” Marshall said. “But the reef hook on the boom caught on the jib halyard. That is what is keeping it from moving away from the mast.”

 

Luck, they called it. I call it an answer to my prayers.

Once everything was tied down, we motor-sailed into Ipala. Jay went below to find the spare gooseneck he bought at Minnies over twenty years ago.

“Who has a spare gooseneck on board?” Many of our sailor friends asked later. “That’s crazy.”

Not only that, but it was also an exact fit.

Now that was luck.