Just when we thought it couldn't get any worse...........

It did!  

We left Rodrigues for Mauritius at midday with 20 - 25 knots straight up the backside which gave us 7 knots on average over fairly lumpy seas.  We reefed right down as we didn't need to go any faster to cover the 350nm to Port Louis in a reasonable timeframe.

And then it happened.  Half way through the first afternoon, our forestay, roller furler and Genoa, broke away from the connection to the deck and flew out in the wind, still attached to the top of the mast.  It was a severely dangerous missile in those conditions and as it shook and writhed, the foils for the roller furler started breaking apart shredding the sail in the process.

To cut an incredibly long and hair-raising story short, it took us 24 hours to finally get the remains tied alongside but we were unable to get the sail down.  We cut off the entire foot but the bulk of the flogging sail caused untold hassles with the steering so we hove to and finally managed to winch it forward to get the thrashing canvas away from doing anymore damage aft.  That lasted all of 20 minutes before it too, came away from the top of the mast held only by the halyard, wreaking havoc as it pummeled against the stays and main.  We were terrified that we'd lose the entire rig so Paul tied two other halyards forward along with the inner forestay, in order to protect the mast.  All this in horrendous seas and near to gale force winds.

In the end, we had no choice but to cut away the forestay, foils and sail so we watched with sheer devastation as many thousands of dollars sank into the sea!  How we're ever going to afford to replace it is way beyond us at the moment.  This was all obviously as a result of the damage we incurred while being towed in Sumatra but still, we're in one piece; we now just need to find that magic wand.  Thanks again to Zorana who were about 20 miles ahead of us; they too hove to for the night to stand by in case they could offer any assistance.

The rest of the trip was slower and, fortunately, uneventful.  Once we'd gone through the check-in procedures in Port Louis, the decision was made to go into the marina where we believe all sorts of repair facilities are be available starting with a rigger.  As soon as I can get internet up and running, we'll be on a search for new sails and a furling system too.

In all our years a of cruising, we never had anything really serious go wrong until now, just at the point where we've almost completed our circuit.  Our experiences in the last few months have started to wipe the gilt off the gingerbread a tad so dear Neptune and All, we've had our fair share; leave us alone now to get home without more drama please.