20 June 2008
Hilary's Blog - 20 June 2008
When I got up this morning Paul announced; "I would describe Hilary's mood as excited", and he was absolutely right! The prospect of a day on the water had given me something to sing about.
A visit from Tony Leppard, our Project Director, gave everyone a lift as we prepared to sail to Chichester. Even a broken fitting on the boom did little to dampen our spirits as we were able to make a temporary repair.
The shore team and Marina wished us good luck and waved us off. Sean and Mike towed me out of Brighton Marina and we had completed the last of our system checks when I decided that it was a good idea to test our fixing. There was a loud bang and we looked up to discover that part of the Gnav, which helps shape the sail by raising and lowering the boom, had sheared off. There was nothing for it; a piece of corroded aluminum cannot be replaced with any amount of lashing. With our tails between our legs, but very much relieved that it had happened before we were under sail, we returned to the Marina.
For a while the combination of two broken fittings looked like it might hold us up here until Monday, but then we took the broken pieces of the Gnav to 'Bob the Welder' at Felton Marine. Two hours later he had produced fittings which are sturdier than the aluminium and plastic they replaced. We can't thank him and Feltons enough for putting other jobs on hold and would like to sincerely apologise to anyone it inconvenienced.
Meanwhile Jacqi's friend John hijacked an electricity man and his van (whose identity we will not reveal but to whom we offer many thanks) to collect our spare set of sails from Grapefruit Graphics and deliver them to Lymington where they are waiting for us. Unfortunately we have now missed this morning's tide, but we are now planning on leaving at 1 am for a night sail, arriving in Chichester in time for bacon sandwiches (with any luck).
From now on anyone wishing us good luck will be placed up against a firing wall and shot, with no room for appeal!!
Page last updated on 22 June 2008 at 17:11