Losing a stay / shroud

[bbg]

A couple of days ago tom26 started a thread on "there went the mast", but with the number of new threads since then it has gone a bit stale.

I appreciate tom's post about what happened, and I'm glad thre was no damage. I think an important way for all of us (at least me) to avoid or respond to incidents in the future is to learn from the experience of others. So with that in mind I offer the following thoughts for others to comment on.

I had always understood that if you lose a stay, the immediate reaction should be to put that stay to leeward. So if a shroud fails, you immediately tack or gybe (whichever is quicker given the point of sail you are on when the stay fails); if the forestay fails you immediately bear away to a broad reach or run, and if the backstay fails you immediately head up to close hauled and harden the mainsheet (so the combination of sheet and leech tension provides support).

The key phrase in all of the above is "immediately" - without trying to sort out any alternative support arrangements etc. - but absolutely immediately - a matter of a few seconds. Once the failed shroud is to leeward, then you can sort out any alternative support arrangements. I have been on a couple of boats that lost stays and this is what we did - and fortunately in neither case did we lose the mast.

Does anyone have any different thoughts / comments on this?

 

[Scillypete]

I had the misfortune to lose a forestay recently, the rigging screw sheared at the base of the roller furling drum. At the time I was clipped to the mast about to put in a second reef (wind strength at the time was force 7 and we were beam reaching). On hearing it go I immediately thought the mast would follow then realised I was attached to it, I released myself fairly sharpish and grabbed a spare halyard and legged it to the fordeck and secured it to a cleat. The still twothirds furled genny was flying horizontally and the sheets were whipping across the deck ripping up anything that they got hooked on so I cut all the lines which left the sail free to fly from the masthead. Being a cat and given the conditions at the time I was reluctant to run downwind and try to get the forestay under control on the foredeck it could have been a sure recipe to lose someone over the side and then have no means to get back to them (the engine was u.s. at the time awaiting a part). As luck would have it the bottom end of the stay landed in the port corner of the cockpit in a lull where one of the crew grabbed it and held on, it was lifting him off the deck (15st without his sailing kit), we managed to lash it down in that position with a veritable cobweb of lines to every strong point and some not so strong that we could find. We were able to sail towards our destination but our manouevrability was poor and the unfurled part of the genny was cracking and whipping like mad sending shudders through the rig and the whole boat. We put out a Pan and were towed in by the excellent lifeboat service, embarrasing for us as we know them all but better to be safe.

 

[Scillypete]

 

[brianhumber]

Re: Losing a stay / shroud - Watch out for the Surveyors afterwards

Lost a forestay off Normandy beaches a few seasons ago in a force 4, forestay mast fitting failed due to non penitration of ss weld. after 15 years the surface weld failed - classic failure. Saved mast by running down windjury rig and sailed back to UK. Then lost the rest of the season arguing with Insurer's surveyor over why weld failed he said it was just old age therefore no claim. Phoned me up and argued this point before he had even seen the mast, boy was I mad. Needed new mast as the mast wall had peeled down. Got nasty but I won in the end.
Agree with you fairly prompt action is required to save mast but my exprience with the surveyor made me think it would have been better to see the stick over the side.

Brian