“Help me bring her in just a little bit more...”
“Man... there’s a LOT of load on this jib...”
CRACK!!!
All together now... ”What the hell was that?”
Everyone heard it, but the source was apparent to none. Eyes were now frantically searching for the problem. The whistling of a solid, 18-knot breeze and splashing from the bow now served as a disquieting background as we dreadfully awaited the next clue.
Since the last action was grinding the #1 an inch closer to the spreader, a quick glance at the winch immediately revealed the issue. The pedestal, just underneath the winch, had suffered a partial failure on its horizontal surface. The entire mounting surface had rotated slightly with the winch and was now obviously compromised.
A pedestal failure is really uncommon on normally bullet-proof Ensigns. It was, however, an interesting repair, documented here just in case it might help someone else...