Mid-Atlantic Repairs and Growing Crew

Part two of the Canary Islands to Caribbean crossing on our modified Crowther catamaran. The ride so far has been fast, and sometimes a bit fruity.

A Batten Receptacle Lets Go

Partway through, one of the 3D-printed batten receptacles blew out — the threaded section pulled clean out of its mount. The cause came down to placement: the second reef sits close to that batten, and the tension pulling on it during reefing turned out to be more than the receptacle was built to handle. As Shayne put it working on the repair, it’s possibly a design flaw at his end — an intermediate support, or simply a stronger receptacle in that position, would likely have avoided it.

The fix was a mid-ocean dodgy repair: Spabond worked into the joint, cleaned up as best as conditions on a moving boat allow. It still felt a bit rubbery once cured — better than nothing, but not the kind of repair you’d choose in a proper workshop. With it holding, we went back to second reef and waited to see if it held under load.

Frankie Flying, and a Few Lumpy Days Behind Us

The fractional asymmetric — Frankie — was up for this stretch of the crossing, though boat speed sat lower than her usual 12 to 14 knots for a while, camera-shy or not. The last three days had been genuinely lumpy; this one, by comparison, counted as glamorous.

The Kids Take On Real Jobs

This crossing has been a good one for watching the kids’ confidence grow. Late-night kite drops, trimming the spinnaker while surfing down waves, working the sheets — everyone’s had a turn to actually contribute rather than just being along for the ride.

Part of the mainsail control setup got explained on camera along the way, since it’s worth understanding: the reefing lines run to the back of the mainsail and hold it at a set size once tensioned. The cunningham — sometimes joked about as the “smart pick” — holds the front of the sail down against the mast while the reefing lines pull the back in, and together they’re what actually makes the sail smaller. There’s also a pin system on the batten cars: pull a control line, and a pin drops down to lock the car into the mast track directly, so the load runs through the pin rather than through the rope, clutch, or blocks.

Simple in principle. In practice, it takes real repetition to get smooth — standing forward, watching the spinnaker to know exactly when to call for more grinding, timing everything so the boat doesn’t lose the wave. Harry’s been on the cunningham, Ollie’s been on sheet — everyone gets a chance to shine out here.

In This Series

This is part of a longer story — an 11-part account of crossing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, including a rudder lost 800 miles from land and the recovery that followed.

Read it in order: