PROJECT BOAT RESTORATION Halyard wrap
“You’re not going to want to put this in your magazine,” said sailmaker Paul Lees, shaking his head when he saw what I’d done.
Not for the first time, I was looking at our Maxi 84 project boat and wondering how much my mistake would cost. So far, these had been fairly small things – like failing to stir the primer, gouging the hull with a paint scraper or antifouling over anodes. But not this time… not only was the headsail shredded, but I might have lost my forestay.
During Maximus’s refit, we’d been so busy below decks, that I never tried to rig the sails. When I finally did, the headsail jammed about a metre out from the furler. We ended up motorsailing for the majority of the delivery trip from Chichester to Poole, except for a short stretch when I unfurled the jib by hand in light winds, then wrapped it back up (see PBO September 22).
We arrived safely at our new home in Cobb’s Quay Marina but with our lift back to Chichester waiting, I didn’t have time to remove the sails. Unfortunately, I left the headsail wrapped around the forestay, but not within its UV strip. When I returned a few days later, after unexpected high winds, the sail was in tatters. Not only that, but there was a serious halyard wrap and there was no way it was coming down!
I called Crusader Sails. “Help! My sail’s stuck… and a bit ripped!” I confessed.
Paul attempted to give me help over the phone then, realising I was just down the road, he kindly appeared on the pontoon 15 minutes later. The look on his face, when he held his binoculars up to the mast, said it all.
“Is it bad?” I asked.
