Murphy's Law???
09 November 2009 | Chesapeake Bay
We will soon be leaving the Chesapeake.
It is with joy, but also great sadness.
Saying good bye is always difficult,
but sailing to warmer climates is a
good thing, especially when a boat
has no insulation.
So, in preparation, I've been doing some
preparatory things on Gromit.
One fine morning, sun shining, only a puff
of wind, I decided it was time to put the main
sail back on. Our main sail is enormous and very
heavy. It not something to be attempted when
there is any wind blowing.
I got no more than 15 minutes into the job; that's
about 12 sail slides into the mast, when within about
a 5 minute time span, the wind rose to about 15
knots (25km/h).
What's a gal to do? I called to Zoe to bring me some line.
She and I stuffed the overhanging sail, that was lying spewed
across the deck, onto the boom. It was a horrible sight and
probably not good for the sail, but we didn't have time to be
gentle about it and flake (the process of neatly folding a sail
into accordion pleats) the sail neatly onto the boom. I didn't
want to deal with hundreds of square feet of sail flailing about.
A couple of days later, finally, I was able to release the
embarrassment of a sail and finish inserting the slides up the
mast and across the boom. Now it is flaked in such a fashion
that would make any sailor proud!!!!