Broken Boom

Some days are good. It’s crisp and sunny outside, and I’m feeling smug because I know how to say whip cream in four languages. The obvious, whip cream, plus chantilly, panna, and nata. 

Some days are shitty, like the one when Gerty’s boom broke in half. That happened three weeks ago. I promised myself I wouldn’t blog about it until we put her back together, so here’s the story.

Michael woke me up during his night watch. This statement pretty much defines catastrophe because Michael never does that.  He was calm but serious.

“Jill, I need your help,” he said.

Imagine – you’re in the Mediterranean Sea, the Captain alerts you to a problem, and you remember that before you went to bed, you monitored a continuous parade of squalls marching across the sky for six hours. Cue thunder and lightning. How long do you think it would take you to wake up?  

In seconds he had my full attention, and he filled me in on the situation. We were less than an hour from our destination after a twenty-hour passage. A controlled jibe to veer away from a lee shore was followed by an immediate crash jibe. Suddenly a tremendous gust had come, leaving no time to reset the boom break. The boom cracked at the main sheet attachment point. Michael was going on deck to spare the mainsail from chafing as best he could.  

Grief is a process, right? First came the depression, then the learning (what could we have done better? In a word, reef.) Next came the motivation to dismantle the mess and move forward (insert hours of banging, cursing, and sweating here.)  

The good news was that Gerty is French, her boom manufacturer is too, and we were still in Europe. Therefore, delivery to us in Spain was fast. Two weeks has to be an all-time speed record to replace a major boat part. So how did we do it for half the price? Michael re-used all the hardware from the old boom, and he had helpful contacts at Z-Spars.

It was time for the install. Again, lots of good news. 

  1. Early on, we decided to bring Michael’s rivet gun instead of my hair dryer. (I still think we had room for both.)  
  2. I’ve been doing ten push-ups a day since I turned fifty because I was trying to avoid saggy triceps.
  3. Michael has a lot of tools, and he knows how to use them (get your mind out of the gutter.)
  4. We were able to anchor in the center of an abandoned marina project. Although it felt dystopian, it was a perfectly still place to do a major boat project.

The two of us put Gerty back together. Okay, Michael did most of the work, but who do you think helped him lift that 150 pound sucker onto the boat (remember the push-ups)?

He got bonus points for upgrading the gooseneck – a project on his to-do list.

There were absolutely no problems until that pesky batten-end piece fell in the water. Yup, that happened.

Michael went snorkeling. Then he went diving. Then he googled to see if we could order a new one. Nope.

So, get this, he made one. A trip to the Spanish hardware store, followed by a silicon mold, and an epoxy science experiment. . . and it was done. So cool.

AND, while I was writing this, he caught dinner. As I said, some days are good.

Last remarks:

  • Nacho and Ingrid, we can’t thank you enough for your generosity and cheer. You lifted us up when we were at our lowest point in La Manga and reminded us exactly why we’ve decided to sail – to meet people like you. Your company, the mocilla (blood sausage,) and Pura Vida made all the difference!

Comments (22)

  1. Sorry to hear about this, but great that you were able to repair it so fast. If there is any comfort in it, you are not the only ones. We had taken off the boom brake wanting to do a jibe, but then got problems due to high waves and shifting direction of the boat. We ended up cracking our boom during an uncontrolled jibe on our Allures 44. It was not as bad as yours, so we could continue through the sailing season with it and exchange it during the winter lay-up.

    Reply

  2. Wow. As usual well written and amusing over a stressful situation. Love the photo’s especially the one of Michael with dinner. In awe of you and Michael.

    Reply

  5. Being awakened out of sleep is scary in itself! But it sounds as if the repair gods favored you both! We will be cruising for 25 days from Athens to Miami in Nov 2023. When we have exact ports and dates who knows, maybe we can intersect!

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  6. What can I say? This blog has left me frightened and yet relieved. Let’s just say I can’t even fathom your feelings when the boom broke, and in poor sailing conditions in the night. I’m thankful for the quick and easy outcome, the expertise of Michael, and your strength from all those pushups. I’m wishing you smooth sailing with no glitches as you continue on your voyage.

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  7. Looks like there’s a universal rule that in every boat repair project either some blood has to be involved or a tiny but major part needs to fall over board.
    Incredible how you managed all this!

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  8. Love how you changed the script. You turned a mishap to a positive adventure! And now I feel I must do 10 pushups every day – I also don’t want saggy triceps and also want to be able to lift a 150 lb boom, just in case! Always prepared you two!!

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  10. Holy crap!!
    I have no words! I cannot wrap my head around how brave, resourceful, and optimistic you both are! Oh… and funny!!
    And muscular 💪
    Stay safe! Happy sails to u 😍

    Reply

  12. This is better than Treasure Island, Kon-Tiki, Robinson Crusoe and The Odyssey combined. Congratulations on an all-time nautical adventure.
    Love from Suzanne

    Reply

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