Fixing and Mending
Sailing Joia
Stuart Jackson
Wed 1 Dec 2021 20:42
They say that the reality of long-distance sailing is fixing boat parts in exotic locations. In our case, it is making fixes on a wildly swerving boat in the middle of the ocean. Over the last couple of days we have grappled with a ruptured fuller line on the main sail, a broken pulley on the jib, a blown end-fitting on the spinnaker pole and a steering cable that came partially off the steering quadrant. The last one was particularly challenging because the access to the steering gear is under the dinghy in the dinghy garage. It is amazing how the human body can be made to bend and fit into extremely tight gaps when necessity demands. Still, by early evening the jobs were all attended to in some fashion, and we decided we all deserved a beer in celebration of a hard-working day. Thanks to Paul Ainsworth for today’s photo. |