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Well not exactly a new member…couldn’t reset my old one “spencerd” so renewed with a new user name hope you don’t mind.
Had a very interesting year, my boat (Bav 44) is leased to a charter company in the Med which my wife and I +dog can sail for 6 weeks as part of the deal. Totally uneventful, but on our return was informed that the mast and rig had failed and had to be cut off and jettisoned over board because of potential damage to the hull. All shrouds were in place and it appears that the mast had buckled at the first cross-tree. The conditions were 10-12kts of wind with flatish sea, not exactly a blow.
The standing rigging was due to be changed in 2013 as the boat will be 10yrs old and taken off of charter. Has anyone else had a similar experience with the Seldon mast (in mast furling) as I would be interested to know?
Fair winds and a merry christmas.
Oh well, at least you’ll have a shiny new mast and won’t need to get the standing rigging replaced again for ages.
Now that she’s coming off charter, are you brining her back to the UK? I brought mine back from the Caribbean last year after taking it off charter.
Trouble is that for the other 46 weeks of the year whilst on charter you do not know how she has been sailed…… could well have been lucky losing the rig it 10-12kts as I guess that there is little other damage?
Had it been in more blustery conditions the damage could have been far worse.My guess is that the rig had been weakened prior.
Steve
Whilst your boat may have been badly sailed and may have had some heavy weather sailing with inexperienced crew, I would have expected the mast to still be intact. Inspection by the charter company should have been carried out on a regular basis and always after heavy weather.
It is likely that the rig was incorrectly set up or was not kept in good order due to a lack of thorough inspection.
We have a 2001 Bavaria 34 and we set the rig tensions ourselves. We find that the cap shrouds require the maximum tension allowed to induce pre-bend in the mast. The lowers by comparison require just enough tension for them not to be slack in strong wind. Any more tension simply removes the pre-bend allowing the mast to invert. If this happens the mast will snap at the lower crosstrees. Its a delicate balance and easy to get wrong if you dont know what is required. I would seriously challenge whoever was looking after your boat on the basis that masts only come down if they are not properly set up and regularly inspected. i doubt that any charter party would have ventured out in the sort of weather conditions that would bring down or cause damage to a properly set-up mast and rig.
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