JAYNE TOYNE
DEHLER 36CWS BOOGIE NIGHTS
Back when I bought
my boat in 2009, yacht racing was an unattainable, time-consuming activity. It wasn’t a place for women like me. But after crewing in the 2012 Yachting Monthly
Triangle Race, I was determined to bring my Dehler 36CWS up to OSR Category 2 and have a go. Three triangle races later and my co-skipper Marina Foti and I were ready for the Mailasail AZAB 2019.
The first four days of the race were uneventful, spent making the boat move in the best direction and at the best speed possible whilst maintaining the
Boogie Nights rule: People first, boat second, race third.
Then came Force 8 conditions, which
Boogie Nights took like a trooper. Even the monster wave that nearly knocked us down didn’t faze us. A day of calm and drying the boat out and we were back to champagne sailing on day seven. We were over two thirds of the way there and flying along in a Force 5-6.
The sea state was smooth, the temperature rising. Music wafted out of the cockpit speakers. Watch changeovers were flexible and we switched places around 2220. I looked at the reefed sails, checking trim against speed, then BANG. The whole rig immediately toppled sideways like a felled tree. Alarmed, Marina appeared in the companionway.
I pressed the
DSC alert button automatically on the external radio control, but looking at the remains of the mast, it
was clear the aerial was now
10m under water.
I fired off a full Mayday voice alert on handheld VHF and paused. Radio silence. I repeated the process once more. Still radio silence.
Now in her life jacket, Marina was passing up the safety gear, such as cable cutters and personal tethers.
I needed to inform Falmouth Coastguard but was unable to find their number so called my parents to ask for a Mayday relay.
We were halfway through cutting away the rig when we were hailed on the handheld VHF, the boat ahead having heard my Mayday. We severed and salvaged as much as we could before casting away the entire mast, boom, sails and furler to prevent us being holed. It was less than six years old and had been well maintained. It had snapped just above the first spreader.
We were 360 miles from São Miguel and a calculation of fuel showed we were shy of around 20 litres to get there. A passing container ship, MSC Rachele, dropped us 60 litres of diesel.
I made a jury rig by lashing two spinnaker poles together and securing them to the chainplates using the original toggles. Using the trysail upside down we motorsailed at 6 knots. Four days later we arrived at Ponta Delgada.
Would I do the AZAB again? I’m not sure. I still need to get a new rig sent out to the Azores where Boogie Nights is stranded, sail back in spring 2020, and attempt to get to the start line of the next Triangle race.