Damn it!

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Geo: 37.7188, -76.4561

We cast off from Deltaville this morning at 9:20 am, heading up the Chesapeake Bay. The temperature was about 50 degrees and the winds were coming out of the north (naturally since that was the direction we were heading) at about 10-15 knots, with 2-3 foot swells.

We we were bouncing along pretty good under sail, but around noon, the davit that holds our dinghy broke. The six foot steel bar that keeps the 2 davit structures separated, popped 2 bolts on one side and started swinging wildly. Every time we dipped over a swell, the dinghy came swinging toward the boat, bringing the 6 foot battering ram with it. I turned the boat south so we were surfing the swells. That kept the dingy from swinging as wildly, so that I was able to tie the dingy to the stern to keep if from swinging more.

But, after surveying the damage, we decided to return home so that I could repair the davit....hopefully. It will take a few whacks with the sledge hammer to re-bend the metal. There were a few scuff marks on the boat, but no damage, so we were lucky there.

We pulled into our dock at the river house around 5:10 pm. It was a long day of sailing but the weather ended up being beautiful (the temperature rose to the mid-60s), and it will be nice to sleep in my bed tonight.

There is a chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms tomorrow, so depending on when I finish the repairs, we may just wait until Saturday to head back out.

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Photos

The damage to the davit.
The bar connected to the structure on the left of the picture is also supposed to connect to the structure on the right. You can see that the bar bent the bracket on the left, in addition to the bar bending from that connection so that it is now hitting the bottom of the dinghy.