Klabautermann acting up

by Ulli:

Mark the Tweaker has always an idea for improvements. The latest was to go wing-on-wing, that means the mainsail goes out one side of the boat, and the jib the other side. This works only by keeping the jib steady with a pole, like our spinnaker pole. Worked beautifully! Rarely ever were we below 8 kn. But you have to drive pretty much deep down wind, which increases the chances for an accidental jibe. And sure enough, it happened. Not a big deal thanks to Bill's boom breaker. But Klabautermann must have sneaked on board, how else could we explain it: This naughty boy made the line in the breaker heat up so much by the (intended) friction within the breaker rolls, that the line partially melted and glued itself to these rolls.

You should have seen me. In my furor I jumped across the dodger, grabbed Klabautermann at his ears - of cause they are invisible, but as any Harry Potter fan can tell you, invisible does not mean ungrabbable - and threw him over the stern of the boat into the sea. What a monster splash!

Now, whaddayouknow, the naughty boy kicked back! He threw a bathtub of water over the stern into the cockpit, and I, then standing at the helm, stood up to my ankles in water! And some water splashed down into the galley and extinguished the pilot light in the oven. Well, I understand that he is jealous about our food, but we could have easily shared; we have plenty. But splashing along in the water he just garbled something like "... going to Pega..." but I could not understand the rest.

Skipper Bill masterfully fixed the breaker, but this stuff is annoying. Can't we have some royal words to keep the naughty boy in check?

Klabautermann must have been on other boats too. Recidivist reported a broken headstay, which is the steel cable which ties the top of the mast to the bow of the boat. A pretty important piece on the boat. They continue sailing without it; wonder how this works out. Bequia reported a steering failure. They return home. As they are in our division and had been ahead of us, we moved ahead one rank for free :-). Tiki Blue had previously retired from the race because of electrical problems. They also were in our division; another freebee :-)).

This is all true, as true as me following orders and are not going to bed to sleep!

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