Tenerife

December 19th, 2013

 

It never ceases to amaze me just how much maintenance is needed on a boat!

 

 

I’m always doing a look around the rigging for potential problem areas – normally it’s a little disappointing in a good way. This time however I looked a little harder and physically moved the attachments I was looking at.

Wow! Lucky this time though!

The split pin for the bottom of the jib forestay that keeps the main steel bar in place had completely rusted through. It had never been noticed before because the silicon used on the pins (to protect unsuspecting toes from getting cut) was holding the broken parts together making it look as if they were whole.
Basically without this pin then the main bar holding the jib forestay would have vibrated off. This would have let the bottom of the forestay free with the result that the whole of the jib assembly would have been flying around the place! A MAJOR MAJOR catastrophe.

This could have happened at anytime.   All for the sake of a cheap split pin of a few cents.

I’m a little put out because I had just paid for a full rigging inspection ready for the Atlantic crossing only in November!  grrrr!!!!

 

 

Over the last 18 months the end of the jib sail (near the tack) had gotten a little scuffed and knocked around basically needing some repair work. As the sail is very thick at this point there are only a few sewing machines capable of stitching it. We found the sail maker with the largest sewing machine in the Canaries (apparently) right here in the marina. What a beautiful job he made of the repair.

The sail maker is not only a great sail maker but he also races! This means he was able to look at our sails and rigging and then advise how to improve what we have for the Ocean crossing which will involve a lot of downwind sail. The new arrangement will not only be fast to assemble but it will also be safe to deploy, easy furl away and perhaps most importantly for me, it will stop the wear on the Genoa sheets.

What a great find!

(Tom Studer – Butterfly Service --- (34) 626 386 463 --- butterflytom {CHANGE TO AT} hotmail {DOT} com --- www.butterfly-service.com)