Wild Spirit is now back in the water after her annual lift out.
Ocean Rigging have replaced all the standing rigging and incorporated modifications to the backstay adjustment to help give a few degrees higher pointing when beating into the wind. This step was taken after detailed consultations with a Naval Architect, the Sailmaker and the Riggers. The cost was significant and in combination with the new sails it really does work.
I have just returned from the annual RYA Yachtmaster Instructors Conference. A well attended and fairly interesting event, the inevitable ‘How’s business?’ question was frequently asked. As far as I can tell new yacht sales have stopped but other parts of the sailing game continue fairly well. Lymington Yacht Charter who look after Wild Spirit for me were certainly receiving bookings when I was sat in their office last week.
One of the things about conferences is that there are trade stands with special offers and with up to 50% off I ended up buying new navigation instruements, charts, teaching aids etc–in fact I spent more than the cost of the conference, lets hope they really were bargains.
Marinas; however seem to be having a tougher time with special offers, particularly if you sign up for several years. It looks like Cowes week and the little Britain will be hit hard by sponsors withdrawing. If you or your company are interested in either of these I will give you a very reasonable quote. You may get a cheaper deal elsewhere, but we will still be in business on the day.
If you are a keen sailor with some experience and qualifications, but suddenly no job, you could consider working on a tall ship via the Sail Training Association. You don’t get paid much but it is good experience and looks well on a CV.
Our IRC Certificate for 2009 has changed to reflect the new sails and has gone down which is to our benefit. I queried this with Peter Sanders who made the new sails and on further research found that the previous measurements we had been supplied with were wrong so we have been racing at a disadvantage for the last 3 years. This probably would not have made much difference for our Royal Ocean Racing Club results, although we may just have made the top 10, but for our RIR result of 124th it would have made a significant difference.
The material used for these sails is similar to Mike Perham’s round the world attempt—see Practical Boat Owner Feb 2009 p70