20th January 2020
We did not go sailing again in 2019.
Doc was brilliant and helped me remove the sails just before Christmas. It was a wet day and we hung them in my warehouse in Woodbridge. Once dry, brother Henry helped me fold them and put them in their bags.
‘Talisker 1’ was immaculately hauled out of the water on the 3rd January at Suffolk Yacht Harbour. My hope of getting up to my friends at Larkman’s Ltd were dashed this year by weather and a sore shoulder which, as I write, is on the mend.
Following my mistake last winter, see my August 2019 post …
http://www.samingosailing.com/advice-from-hempel-a-sail-to-the-blackwater/
… with the gel shield and underwater primer I have to take it back to the gel shield below the water line. So the long laborious process has begun of scraping off what remains of the soft anti foul, the hard antifoul and the two coats of underwater primer. It’s awkward to know how far to go as in places, it has adhered very well, and in others, it just falls off.
I scrape areas and then suddenly there is an area that comes off very easily. I’ve decided to ignore the rudder and keel and concentrate on the rest.
My friend Peter Buchan is helping me.
Keep up the good work. You have all winter; easy on that shoulder.