Repairs

We pulled up to the dock at Morningstar Marina in Brunswick, GA this morning at 8:00 am. We traveled  336 nautical miles over 50 hours.  The passage was not a bad one, although passages are definitely not my favorite thing. We were able to turn the engine off and sail for 10 hours yesterday which we weren’t expecting. An even bigger treat was our visit from dolphins. They stayed with us for at least 1/2 hour, at times jumping and even doing flips onto their sides. It was so much fun to watch. I did get one photo of a dolphin jumping, but none of the flips. 

When George was covering the mainsail this morning he discovered another batten poking out of the front if the sail. Except, this one was broken. Apparently another batten pocket had ripped, allowing the batten to poke through. Then when we furled the sail it must have caught on something and snapped a foot-long section off. We had hoped to have a quiet day of rest but ended up spending a few hours unfurling the sail onto the deck and stitching the batten pockets. We were able to put the first batten back and are considering options for the broken batten. (By the way, in case you don’t know, our battens are long, flat fiberglass rods that help the sail keep its shape.)

We enjoyed an early dinner at Coastal Kitchen, the marina’s restaurant, and are looking forward to an early bedtime. 

             My one photo of a dolphin jumping. The loop that looks like it is one its tail is actually attached to the boat. 

                                                                                  Mainsail unfurled. 

                                                                          The rip in the batten pocket. 





          I used the awl attachment on George’s Leatherman tool to cut holes through the layers of the sail. It wasn’t easy. 





           Then I used whipping line to stitch through the holes—with a rusty needle—to make a new end for the pocket.