Sails are Out

Yesterday (April 24th), a young islander (Mike) from Turbulence Sails came to look at our sails to give an estimate for some small repairs. While talking, Al asked him about some guidance for pulling the sails down, and he offered to help us do it for a small fee. It was a good thing too, since the sequence of the process is kind of important, and for the novices like us quite overwhelming. Al was very attentive while helping him unscrew the battens, and I took pictures as reminders for next year. You know, we are kind of losing our minds at this age, and most of the time require documentation. Then I took the battens down into the port hull, to store them in my daughter’s cabin (she only spent a few days with us last year, but the cabin is hers for life. My son’s cabin is up for grabs for any visitor, being the nicer one).

Anyway, I did some jousting with the battens, some as long as twenty feet, and laid them in the cabin/corridor. The sails were folded to be stored at the sail-maker’s shop until November, when we will be back. Ruyam looks bare without the sails.

Al went around the deck to tidy up all the lines, and secure the boom. Neils from Grenada Marine suggested that we take down all the halyards to prevent molding from rain in summer but we could not trust ourselves to do it right. If they get moldy, we might replace them in the fall. The big day for haul-out is Friday. That day we shall see the real picture of Ruyam II’s bottom, whether the grounding in Culebra did any damage or not. We cross our fingers until then.