Leg 1 started at Southend Pier in the Thames Estuary. It is quite a historic place (I looked it up in Wikipedia) if you need some educational moments. The day was gray, misty and cold. The mooring we were supposed to hook onto when we arrived at 10pmish had not been there, so all the boats were rafted up side by side in a few rows at a dock.

At South End Pier with Sir Robin Knox wishing each boat skipper well as he sends the boats to the start line.

As you can see it was a bit crowded in the raft up. The cool thing is that all teams wished and cheered the others on as they left the docks!

Nigel and Deb with sewing machine in the hallway (quite narrow if you see Nigel’s feet propped. Where is Alex?
Three days later when it was finally repaired, it was stretched out from furthest forward in the bow we could get all the way down that hallway (head to tack) with the clew making a turn at the galley and going down the other hallway to the end of it. Very fun adventure trying to find how to unravel the kite as it came down through the boom and mainsail into the companionway and onto the floor. However, but end of leg one we had it figured out!!!!!
And then came the task of “wooling it” (tying a piece of yarn around it to prevent it from opening during the hoist).
The ends go fairly quickly but the “belly” is a monster. Total result looks like this: We have 3 kites on board different sizes for different wind conditions. All went well with them until a small tear the last week which our now experienced Sailmakers fixed quickly.Time to go to boat so more later! Have a great day!
Linda….I can hear you so clearly “Find me some wind….” Good to see your posts.
LikeLike
So how many J22s could you giftwrap in that spinnaker? Would not want to shrimp that.
LikeLike