Sail Repairs R Us

Our "big colored sail" is an asymetric or MPS - great for reaching and shy running off the wind.

It is, however, a bit of a monster - in fact it's a real handful for just two of us to handle when the wind gets up.

It exploded during the passage to St. Helena from Cape Town, in about 18 knots of breeze, telling us it is near the end of its useful life. We know that it's at least 20 years old, so it certainly doesn't owe us anything more.

However we really need it to get north to the equator and the ITCZ, as winds have been very light south of the line.

So Ley set about repairing the monster a few days back, giving the Sailrite Ultrafeed machine a workout after I hot-knifed the torn edges.  It has now been restored to its sail bag ready for a second life.

The nylon material down low on the sail, near the tack, is clearly more UV damaged and stretched than the main body of the sail. We'll keep our fingers crossed, and try to get the thing down on deck if the wind gets over 12 knots.