building seas and the failed boom vang

Wednesday brought a freshening breeze from the Southwest. To reduce weather helm and stress on the rigging, we set to work on the storm jib and reefed main. Even with reduced sail we still had our hands full. Upon finding we were damn near bottoming out on the muddy banks of Skagit Bay, we threw a quick jibe in - without sheeting in the Main - and just as I feared the force of the shifted boom ripped up some machinery. We were grateful it was the boom vang that failed instead of the Main sheet block.
- In this shot you can see the metal cleat that ripped down the middle under the force of the wind and then underneath that the canvas strap vang that Heather creatively jury-rigged in a matter of minutes.