Houston, we've had a problem

Saturday we went to Marinara to sail on Rebel. Light winds, a smiling sun and a low temperature. As we reached the end of the dams, we switched off the engine and started to raise the main. The halyard was easy in the beginning, but suddently it became hard to pull and then locked completely. In the mean time a change in the wind direction had slapped the sail from side to side. So we tried to lower the mail. No way. It was locked, almost completely raised and locked. That was a problem, a serious one.

We decided to come back to the marina, hoping that the wind would stay constant, 5Kn from NW, so to serve as a brake, as we'd reach the pier. We were lucky. Using the engine in reverse we landed ... almost as an elicopter, hoovering near the piper. Rebel was undamaged, tied to the mooring.

  And up Luigi went to the mast head. 

He was able to detach sail and hayard, but the halyard stayed locked.

A modification will be implemented on the masthead main pulley to avoid any possible future jam.

Now please enjoy some pictures: "sunset at Marinara".

 The tower, we the offices are.

 The piers are the floating kind ones, with plastic "soft" borders, very gentle against the hulls.

Looking W

Looking E. Nice place to spend a Saturday.