11 May Getting round to it

Ever had an item on your to do list for a long time? I've had one on my list for over four years and today I finally checked it off. Job done.

With so much spare time for boat jobs it was inevitable I would have to confront the project of repairing the ripped mizzen ballooner / spinnaker sail. The last time we used this sail we had light winds from abaft the beam and were looking for the one knot lift from this lightweight sail which sits between the mainsail and the mizzen. It's not new but it's not been used very much meaning it already had a few patched from tears as it caught on the cleat on the end of the boom once. My memory recalls, it was a long time ago, hoisting the ballooner it caught on the wind generator blades. The damage was cloth ripped along the nylon webbing from top to bottom on both edges and across the reinforced top. We had a triangle where only the bottom was still attached.

my assistant helping

I've kept putting off tackling the job because 1) we rarely need it, 2) it's a long and complicated job, and 3) it's an old sail. Now I have the time, the inclination and no excuse to delay it was time to pull out the Sail Rite and get to it.

Ably assisted by David and Polly the job took and afternoon and an hour the following morning to complete and it wasn't as complicated as I had thought. Should have done the job years ago! While I had the sewing machine out I also ran up a couple of face masks in using a pretty Liberty print Swiss lawn (with a double muslin lining). How sweet.