L'Eau Commotion Westabout

8:00pm Saturday 16 Th June 2018 ( UTC-5 )
Thought I’d bring you up to date on the state of the sails and rigging. First of all the staysail. When the wire stay broke at the mast, just above the spreaders, the Sta Lok fitting went overboard so there is no possibility of it being reinstated. The sail, which is now neatly wrapped around the furling mechanism, is in good condition which may be useful if the jib, a much larger sail, develops more of a tear and if, a big if, it can be slid down the foil. I say this because a few wraps of the torn sail have gone around the foil and I don’t think I will be able to get it down. It seems to be doing a reasonable job to windward with about half of its design area showing to the breeze. The lovely red asymmetric spinnaker is a different story. After I had allowed it to flog itself to bits only a dedicated ( Jesse ? ) sailmaker would attempt to repair it. With the very slow and very costly freight system operating in the Falklands there would not have been enough time to send it back to Oz, have it rejuvenated and returned. As an example an Express Priority Registered letter took six weeks from England to the Falklands. And the cost? I was quoted US$800 for freight from USA for a reverse osmosis cartridge weighing 400 grams and 400mm long with again typical delivery times but no guarantee of six weeks. This is by Express air freight. It pays to think well ahead. None of this is a real problem though as I can make reasonable time with a quartering wind and there’s always the chance I might get really brave and launch the spinnaker - if I get really bored with things going well that is. I’m heading a bit North East for a day or so to try to avoid a big High Pressure system settling to the North of the Alexander Selkirk Archipelago and so far so good. The cabin reached 20C yesterday and today and with the steady quartering breeze being promised for days and days all is well.