I’ve been pondering witty titles for this post, all on the subject of repairing a chafed pole. But decided on just settling for a basic matter-fact, not-too-cheeky version, not adding to the epidemic clickbait we all see now.

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”

G.K. Chesterton

For our non-sailor readers: What’s a whisker pole? Relative to this post, it’s simply a rigid pole used to hold the clew (outboard corner) of our genoa (headsail) outboard, away from the mast (big stick pointing upwards). It allows the sail to capture more wind, especially when the wind is from behind, and/or when we’re rocking in biggie waves. A properly rigged whisker pole is essential for longish downwind passages, extends the life of the sail, keeps the flopping, flapping and banging to a minimum, and generally keeps you from going mad!

We had equipped our prior Fayaway (Wauquiez Pretorien)with an extendible all-aluminum whisker pole. One from below Forespar brochure. Paid full price from Defender. It weighed about 30 pounds. “Big and heavy” is my term, and I dreaded when the passage and wind combination begged for its use. I would whimper at using my whisker pole. (Sorry, couldn’t help that!!)

When our new baby Fayaway arrived, we had multiple lists of items to purchase. A whisker pole was on the shorter “must have” list. Oh my that was a LONG list! Of course we couldn’t buy it all at once – we had to prevent the credit cards from spontaneously combusting.

Eventually the purchase of our new pole (just call it the pole, shall we?) had arisen on the list. I surfed the net for reasonable prices. For a telescopic pole, online pricing from the major chandleries (Defender, West, etc) ranged between $800 (smallest aluminum, non-telescopic) and $3,500 for telescopic full-carbon (oh but that would be nice!)

The carbon fiber version weighs less than a measly 12 pounds! Wow! But we had so many other important things to buy on a limited budget. So, carbon was out. Or was it?

A large marine chandlery Defender announced their annual spring sale. Oh boy! Get the big shopping cart! While searching for items on their website and putting together our shopping list, I happened to see those Forte carbon poles listed. With killer prices – actually half of Forespar’s price for carbon! And in stock! Oh boy indeed! Time to put in an order before I wake up.

But… it’s never that easy!

Our new carbon fiber pole is now fully paid-for via smoldering credit card. I still had to pinch myself. Makes sense to purchase that new 275 feet of anchor chain, while we’re at it. So I rode home with the 300 pound barrel of chain tied securely and a 12 pound pole sticking through the rental pickup truck cabin. I didn’t mind the cold April breeze.

Fast forward… later that year we approached Bermuda, after a 600 nm passage, having frequently used our beautiful black pole on the trip. As I was retracting the extended portion I noticed that the line was badly chafed – almost to the point of breaking! “That stinks!” I mumbled, trying to think about how that happened.

We didn’t have the right size line to replace, and it wasn’t obvious how to replace it if we did have the line. I emailed the company for some suggestions. They responded quickly and sent assembly sketches explaining the convoluted line routing and construction. However, it wasn’t immediately obvious how to disassemble without breaking something. Let’s put this off and hope that the pole isn’t necessary until we arrive in Antigua (next stop).

That was late November. We eventually purchased a new tougher control line at a marine chandlery in Dutch Sint Maarten – a month later! Now it’s April, and we’re anchored in Inagua, Bahamas, after a 400 nm passage from Puerto Rico. Wow it’s a breeze to use now, in a breeze! We used that pole quite a bit.

But you didn’t fix it yet?!, you might say. Yes, you’re correct, and we could only use the non-extended length, limiting its full potential. But now after sailing hundreds of miles, wishing to extend the pole, I’m re-motivated to fix this thing!

With regards to the chafed bits – I’m hoping it was caused from the pole jaws being twisted – a simple adjustment. And the new line is much tougher. Let’s see how long it lasts. And so necessity is the mother of fixing. (Or something like that!)

Today we’re off to The Ragged Islands, another 130nm downwind (20-25kts) run. We hope you have a great day too!

“What is time to a water rat? What is time to the river? Only we humans obsess over days and minutes, hours and seasons.”

Matthew Goldman, The Journals of Constant Waterman: Paddling, Poling, and Sailing for the Love of It