When I was working extensively on the mast two winters ago, my buddy Glen
would joke about not wanting to be on a night passage and hear something
*ping* off the deck – or worse yet *ping* *ping* *ping* *tinkle* *thud*!!
Most sailors have thought about the dreaded *ping* of some fastener bouncing
off the deck and landing in the ocean. This is why sailors use a variety of
magical potions to prevent things from working loose, Red Loc-Tite, Blue
Loc-Tite, Tef-Gel, 5200, or rust (the poor man’s Loc-Tite.)
The offending *ping* could be a screw that worked loose from the mast, a
cotter pin that snagged on a sheet and straightened, or in my case, a
shackle that worked itself open over time. I didn’t actually hear this one
*ping* but I definitely heard the *thud* that followed when the whisker pole
landed on the lifeline.
Amazingly enough all I lost off the whisker pole car was a single washer,
and I found one in my spare parts that worked. I posted a photo yesterday of
the two pieces that we amazingly found on deck. The shackle pin had wedged
itself under a hatch cover, and Sabrina grabbed the rubber piece before it
rolled overboard.
Yesterday morning we were waiting on the tide to switch at Current Cut so I
went to work to fix the whisker pole. The Harken car was first, and after
putting on the new washer, I used a single pass of stainless steel wire to
lock the shackles closed. (Usually I feel that locking a shackle closed
above deck isn’t necessary, I just seize them closed with a marlin spike or
pliers. But I highly recommend anyone with this system add the lock wire,
our damage could have been much more severe.)
The whisker pole end itself had twisted when it rotated around the lower
mount. So next we had to bend the end back into place. This took some
ingenuity, and we ended up using my “Gentle Persuader” (a dead blow hammer.)
After a lot of twisting and torqueing we managed to bend the end back the
1/4″ so the jaw slide works properly. Now all the pieces of the system are
fully operational. We were very lucky, and happy that the only damage we
sustained were some scratches and dings.
I’ll be listening harder for that *ping* next time, and I hope it never
happens.