Follow our boats across the Atlantic in ARC 2017

A skipper's reflections. Being a skipper has a glamorous connotation. You get to drive big boats into fancy ports, you wear fancy clothes and you eat well. However, every coin has a reverse side and the reverse side of the skipper coin is responsibility. You have a responsibility to take care of guests and the boat. The romantic image of sailing across the Atlantic was quickly replaced by a few days of pure chaos. It started when the lock holding the gennaker broke, causing the gennaker to fall into the water. Immediately the crew and first mate Sofie were on the rope to save the sail. The rope continued to unravel and Sofie's hand got stuck in the hole where the rope runs into the mast. She screams and Patrik knocks her hand free. The sail plunges into the water. With a bloody hand, Sofie comes to me and says, despite the pain, that she will take over the steering so that I can help with the sail. The gennaker wraps itself around the rudder and propeller. We take down the other sails while trying to hold the part of the gennaker that is not in the water. After securing the sail as much as possible, we take a short break to talk about how to proceed. During the break, the sail comes loose from the rudder and propeller. We pick up the remains and continue the night on the jib only. I sit down with Sofie and look at her hand. A few pieces of the skin are completely torn away and the fatty membrane between skin and muscle is exposed. I want to sew up the wound, but there is no skin to sew in. She whimpers when I touch her hand. She can move her fingers, so there are no broken bones or damaged tendons. I give her painkillers but her pain gets worse and worse. I decide to put a local anesthetic in her hand to stop the pain so that the tablets can start to work. I try to remember everything from medical school about how to apply the anesthetic, take the injection and stick the needle. The next morning I put on my climbing harness and jump into the water. Nothing remains. We take new steps, set the mainsail and jib. The day's agenda includes surfing practice. The conditions were perfect. After a few hours, what should not happen, an involuntary gybe, the preventer thread breaks and the boom breaks. We check the rig and see that the boom is off in two places. No, not the boom. We take down the mainsail and secure it. The boom is off so that the neck is rubbing against the mast. We take all the halyards we have and start lowering the boom to the deck. It's heavy and everyone has to help to make it work. Once down on deck, we can untie the mainsail and hoist it back up onto the bimini. Darkness falls and we call it a night. I spend the night sketching and making my plans. How are we going to solve this? When the light wakes us up and we gather for breakfast, I have the plan ready. My plan is to untie the sail from the mast and roll it from below. Then the thick sailcloth together with the lower battens will form a new boom. Everyone gets their tasks, now let's solve this! We lift, stretch, roll and secure. 8 hours later we gather on the flybridge. Hans starts to hoist the sail and it stands again. Everyone exhales and applauds, we are on our way again! A skipper's day is never the same. One day you are the king of the waves, another day you are a doctor and the third day you cook soup on a nail. With kind regards, Fredrik Olsson on board Sirli.