Adding an inner forestay - Part 1

To prepare Auriga for ocean sailing, we want to make the boat as reliable and adaptable as possible. A common modification for offshore-going yachts is the addition of an inner forestay. A small staysail can be flown from it in heavy weather, being easier and safer to set than a storm jib and giving the crew additional options in most conditions.

Storm staysail in heavy weather © Carlo Borlenghi / Rolex

This requires a deck fitting of substantial strength, and we had to face a host of challenges in modifying Auriga accordingly.

Moving Home

This week we upgraded our home. We moved out of the "budget" marina into the slightly more upmarket Fox's. Mainly as we weren't happy with resting in the mud every low tide, but also in search of more reliable electricity and with thoughts of moving onto the boat one day soon. Fox's has a warm shower and a bar. Also, CUYC's boats, Kestrel and Puffin, are moored in Fox's so we can help with work on these boats while we are on Auriga.

Our old home - quaint, but lacking electricity...

Disaster!

Having taken everything we wanted to keep dry back to Cambridge for safe keeping, disaster struck this weekend. My basement flooded!*

All the cushions, other soft furnishings, rope, some wood, the cooker, some electric kit, the anchor - all of it ended up in 10cm of water!

I put it in there to keep it dry!

The endless battle against the damp

No one should keep a boat in England. 

Our boat is damp. The damp gets inside, it never gets dry and now, the woodwork is starting to rot. It seems water finds its way in all over the deck, through the fittings and around the hatch. Hopefully not through the hull.

A particularly bad spot

Modifying the sails - Part 2

After my previous entry on our motivations, here is an update on the work we have done so far modifying our sails for hanks.

Unpicking the old stiching

The sails we have are fitted with boltropes for the luff foil. There are 3 ropes sewed into the luff of each sail. As the grommets to take the new hanks have to be at the very leading edge of the sail, that means two of the ropes had to be removed.

Tired after the first sail. 7 to go...

Modifying the sails - Part 1

Why are we modifying the sails?

While the weather has been too cold and wet to work on the boat we have been spending our time stiching, unpicking, sewing and hammering our sails. This was quite a large job, and, once started offered no chance to go back! In short, it seems plausible you may be wondering why we are doing this?

New stainless grommets

Old...

... and new