The Hatch

westernaustralia2011.com mast update

11 March 2008

Sometimes life is never meant to be easy, but the old saying stands, “When the going gets tough the tough get going!”

The factory in South Africa where the masts for the 68s were manufactured has had an explosion; a carbon oven exploded and has burned down the bulk of the factory. As a result the factory is, to put it mildly, somewhat distracted!

We have managed today to source a similar mast section in France however, so the very rough programme of events is now as follows:

1. Have the mast section anodised. (This is a special treatment to protect the aluminium against saltwater corrosion) Say 2 to 3 days.

2. Ship the section once anodised to the UK. Say 1 day.

3. Have the section manufactured up to have the sleeve boxes and spinnaker halyard head block cranes welded along with connections for spreaders. Say 7 days.

4. Ship the mast section to Hawaii. Say 2 to 6 days, depending on aircraft and US Customs but we are working on this to reduce the time.  The problem is we have to have a front-loading aircraft because the section is too long for normal aircraft, we are told.

5. Attach new section to the surviving section of mast on the boat. This is quite a normal procedure, most masts are made in sections and this will just be another connection in the mast.  With all crew assisting and our own staff on site, we would hope to set this up and re rig the boat in 2 to 3 days, allowing for a few hiccups along the way.

6. Whilst the mast is being repaired the crew can re-stock the boat for the next leg, and then get underway as soon as possible.

If we can hold to this timetable then the boat may leave Hawaii a little after the rest of the fleet but will catch up with them in Santa Cruz. It’s not perfect, but the best solution available to us at the moment. Our efforts are focused on cutting this time.

In the meantime we have examined the cause of the failure of the rig on westernaustralia2011.com and it all comes down to the shearing of a rigging screw at deck level on the starboard masthead shroud.  One does not expect this sort of thing to happen, but it has and that means we are concerned at the durability of the rest of the fleet’s similar fittings.  We are arranging to renew them throughout the fleet in Hawaii as a precaution.

We will keep everyone updated as things develop. There are some hurdles in this plan, there always are, but it’s our most positive shot at the moment.

RKJ