Mystic Lake

The Snipe Mast Dance

Winchester, June 2, 2013.

By Bridget Wiatrowski and Art Rousmaniere

June 2 started as a beautiful, sunny, hot and breezy day in the Boston area. As local snipers arrived at Winchester Boat Club and started rigging for Sunday fleet races, white caps built on the tiny Mystic Lake. Enthusiasm ran through the 8-10 snipe teams who looked forward to the first hot day of sailing this season. Wind! Blessed wind! And then, the dreaded rumors began. iPhones broke out. Forecasts were read aloud. Radar was scrutinized. “Sustained 20 knots with gusts to 31” was passed from boat to boat.

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That excited many but grounded a few, reconciling that it was too early in the season to break boats. Some took the opportunity to pack for next weekend’s regatta or fine tune their rigs. Something strange happened: the wind continued to build. A brave few got sails and headed for the hoist. Ultimately, four boats made it in the water, while only two left the dock. Those two were treated to a few sweet screaming reaches but their thrills were short lived, as one boat soon capsized while the other snapped a shroud. After limping home under bare poles, the lower third of the its mast was found to be severely – but fortunately gently – bowed to port just above the deck. The result is what you see in the photos. While the original curvature wasn’t captured very well, we at least managed to document the high tech fix-it process.

The answer to a bent mast is to…. DANCE! So dance the Mystic Lake fleet did. Bent mast owner Gillmore O’Neil and Art Rousmaniere started it off by going Gangnam style with carefully placed footing on the peak of the bend with the mast laying atop two saw horses. There was no shortage of eager helpers as well as of engineering analyses and surgical opinions as to where to exert the most pressure. The mast was rotated, examined, danced upon, assessed, and rotated again – over and over again for close to an hour. Sweat dripped from the dancers so alternate crews were recruited as relief. John Lally, Kerry O’Brien, Bill Swanton, Bob Coyle and guest Jesse Combs, all took turns bouncing in unison, though some preferred the more traditional hand-belly-bounce technique. At last, the reward was a straight metallic stick, as decreed by inspector Kerry and a much-relieved Gilmore.

A beautiful, straight metallic stick! What more could a snipe sailor want?