Date: 1/17/96
Time 1800UTC
Lat: 120,30W Lon: 22,19N
2,643 C16T @2.5K
10:00AM-PST W-NNE25 AT76F ST64.3F B1020Steady
Guadalupe 407 San Diego 643

Weather conditions have worsened. I've cut rpms down to 2200 in attempt to reduce pounding and conserve fuel. Speed down in the 2 to 3k range. Hopefully this will pass soon.
As I proceed back north, my reports will also include my commentary regarding the collision, dismasting and my efforts to get Northwest Spirit sea worthy again for the trip home. I will start with this report.
It is approximately 5AM PST on Saturday 1/13. Winds are easterly at 15k. Course is south on the port tack, beam reach, at a speed of 8 to 10 knots. Winds were stronger earlier and I have the port forward ballast tank full to provide more righting moment. I am below, in my bunk, asleep.
I am awakened by an enormous jolt and crashing sound. As I scramble from my bunk, the crashing goes on for what seems to be a very long time. My first thought is that I have suffered a rigging failure and have been dismasted.
As I reach the pilot house, the noise stops. I step out into the cockpit to see the stern of a ship angling away to port. Looking forward, I see the mast doubled over about 20 feet up and hanging over the starboard side of the boat.

Am I sinking? Back down below, run to bow, check sight gauges on two forward crash compartments. No water. Run to the stern compartment, no water. No immediate danger of sinking.
Via a hand held VHF, I inform the ship that I am not in immediate danger but am not and will not be sea worthy until I can clear the rig from the boat. I also ask them to notify the U.S. Coast Guard of my situation since my antenna went over board with the mast.
I send off an e-mail to the GOALS Team appraising them of the situation.
Now to survey the situation and come up with a plan of attack. The mast is buckled in two places. The first 20 feet up where the mast is doubled over. The second buckle is located further up the mast, now located 2 feet above the deck. The remaining upper portion hangs over the starboard side and straight down into the water. The boom is still attached to the mast, angles along the starboard side of the pilot house with the clew end resting on the top life line adjacent the traveler. The main sail is still fully attached and appears intact. The back stay hangs over the starboard side, still attached to the top of the mast.
The #3 jib was in use and still attached to the furler foil lies arching over the starboard bow with the peak attached to the top of the mast 30 feet below the surface. The other two furlers with sails still furled also arch over the side to their attachments on the mast.
A bow sprit stay has parted. The very bow at deck level is crushed inward several inches bending it's deck plate and breaking the forward bow pulpit bases loose from the deck. The deck/hull joint on the port side forward of the mast has considerable damage but it appears to be cosmetic.
Luckily, the wind becomes lighter with gentle seas. It allows me time to plan my approach and to salvage as much as I can. It appears to me that the upper mast buckle (now just above deck level over the starboard side) will part with repeated bending caused by boat motion. It is here that I decide to make the separation and I slit the main sail from luff to leach.
I must cut away all of the rod rigging that leads to the upper part of the mast. I fetch my GIANT bolt cutters and head for the back stay. Clamping on just above the HF insulator to salvage the antenna, I pull on the 4 foot handles. Nothing! I set one handle on deck and put all my weight on the other. Barely a mark. I am appalled.
More tomorrow.

John.