Brazilian flagged ex America Cupper SY ‘Ondine’ has been shipped to Fort Lauderdale, USA, for a major refit. Riggers installed Navtec and Dyform. Nothing wrong you would say as long you can afford the money.

The owner asked to have a look. To design a new deck layout and to check the mast and the rigging. Especially whether the running backstays has to be put more backwards. In a glimp we see that the runners are attached to the spinnaker blocks which is foolish. Also that the checkstays don’t function by lack of tension. And indeed that the runners has to be put backwards. These conclusions are charming by the mess we face a few moments later. I cannot believe my eyes when I see that there is no tension at all on the forestay and the inner-forestay (cutter). Not at all! Both stays jump up and down in the wind. Better, they fly like a bird! I am astonished, ashamed and wordless. I can tension the inner-forestay but not the 19mm Dyform forestay. The rigging screw – it is almost criminal! - is on its max!

We climb the 24-meter mast. We have the feeling that there are more unwanted surprises. And indeed. The pin through the fork that fits the forestay to the top of the mast is made of ordinary steel. It is rusty and has to be replaced. Furthermore the paint cracks just under the second pair of spreaders. It is the spot where the two mast sections are joined together. We suspect that this is caused by extreme tension or stress. However, caused by what? We check the backstay and notify leaking hydraulic oil from the Navtec tensioner. If we watch the backstay itself we see again a lack of tension. Not that extreme, but serious enough to pay attention too. Suddenly all pieces fit together. To put tension on the loose forestay the crew put so much pressure on the backstay that the mast has been bent backwards and took the form of a banana. The unwanted abuse of a tensioner caused the stress load in the middle section of the mast and, in addition, the cracks in the paint.

Now we also understand why all the hanks of the genoa were lost during their last trip to Fernando do Noronha. By lack of tension of the forestay and lack of tension on the genoa hallyard, the hanks shift up-and down along the 19mm Dyform stay till they were all sheaved and … gone!
Happily the ‘Ondine’ averages under sail 8 knots and did not face gale-force winds. The chance that the mast would have been broken would have become close to reality.