Sail Cutthroat

Listen my children and you shall hear of another perilous Cutthroat adventure. Twas the 21st of April in ‘07 and crew members are barely alive to tell you about that famous day and year.

After coming off a fairly routine shift, coffee, and a nice breakfast of cereal and fruit, the Captain summoned us out on deck for a briefing on a new opportunity for fun and adventure. Breathless we were as the Captain described the Genoa recovery task at hand.

It was to be a three phase operation filled with danger during each phase. Individual tasks were assigned to the crew based on seniority of the crew, cooking ability, height and weight, and relationship to the Captain.

Ed, being the oldest and sufficient credibility in other categories, was assigned to man the wheel. Roger, being the most qualified in the stated criteria was assigned the task to man the Genoa halyard. I was asked if I would like to perform the following tasks. Since I was the “Junior” hand with no experience anywhere.

Task # 1 was to go out on the port bow and release all the tethers holding the Genoa on the deck. A simple task you say! Not necessarily so, since I was also asked to “contain” the Genoa with my body to keep it from jumping off the deck prematurely. Also, the Captain asked for assistance in feeding the leech of the Genoa into the furler.

Task # 2 was to feed the withering, narley, partially contained Genoa to the Captain. Also a seemingly easy task, you say. Probably, except that mother nature had at this moment decided to bless us with a significant increase in winds.

Task # 3 was to guide the Genoa from its rolled and twisted configuration into a “flying” position. Again, probably not that difficult in normal weather conditions - except yesterday when we pulled the Genoa out of the water we somehow managed to “tie” an overhand knot in the lower portion of the sail. The 115 Genoa had a mind of its own. The only emergency procedure available was to individually release each jib sheet, undo the tangle, and re-tie them onto the Clew.

After well over an hour our simple task, according to our esteemed Captain, was finally over. Totally exhausted, we crawled back into the cockpit for a critique of our efforts. It was a brutally ugly affair. Although the Captain said we did “a great job” she also informed us we had to now furl the genoa to see if the replacement jib halyard would do its job. Lessons learned from all this were abundant. Most obviously, not to place excessive pressure on the Genoa.

Before ending this writing, I must acknowledge an opportunity afforded me by Roger, the Captain’s “first mate”. I was given a highly coveted “SPA” pass, which allowed me to spend some quality time in the ship’s hot tub - AKA the bilge. My only comment about the experience was that the cocktail service sucked. So my friends, do not despair - always keep the following in mind.

It is what it is; It will be what it will be; and all’s well that ends well.

For the humble crew of the SV Cutthroat, it was just another opportunity to serve our esteemed Captain. With any luck, we might even get something to eat tonight and some SUNSHINE tomorrow.

Amen.