Progress in Blobs

or in Stits and Farts, as the Rev. Spooner probably never said. Lots happening but it’s never instantaneous. For instance, we took the rainbow mainsail to the sailmakers yesterday to have a second set of reef-- As a verb – to shorten sail, to use reefing lines or other techniques to make the working part of a sail smaller and so reduce its power as the wind rises. --- As a noun, (1) the part of the sail that has been shortened, folded or rolled. May be referred to as a slab or a slab reef which is a particular way of forming a reef. -- As a noun (2) – a bank of coral, rocks or other obstruction usually close to a shoreline and potentially dangerous to sailors. points and full batten pockets fitted and ended up ordering a new one – the difference in price was relatively small and it seemed sensible The new one will be made in Sri Lanka and won’t be ready till January. The sailmaker is also making the standing rigging but that’s in sporadic mode too and a week or two away because he has to order the parts…we hope to raise the mast with the old stuff in the next few days. We erected a tent over the boat to keep the rain out – tied down to old car wheels and sandbags to stop it doing a Mary Poppins but the Portland dank and dismould is now at least at tent’s length and we can work under it on a dry boat. There’s a small but vital bulkhead inside that has rotted and Megan will crank up the angle grinder and cut it out and make a new one and glass it in. There’s some benefit in months of work in Hobart doing just that. Next big job is to roll the hull over to one side and extend the centreboard to check its structural integrity. The photo shows the purchase for raising the board – buried deep in the most inaccessible part of the hull. And so it goes…. . Virus-free. www.avg.com <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>