"Papillon" is a Robert Tucker designed 'Fantasie 19' and my first boat.. I've been sailing since the age of 15 (when I did my RYA Part 1 and 2 at Emsworth Sailing School) so I've been on the water (but more in it) for going on 30+ years now... this blog is about our adventures together - they may be small one's (because despite the years I have little experience in boats - I was mostly windsurfing!), but they are adventures none the less..

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Summer on the horizon...

Apologies for the lack of posts in the last few weeks - although it's only February I think it safe to say that there may be a sniff of spring in the air (although that may be wishful thinking) as boating matters have begun to bite - delightfully - into my available time....

The mast went away this winter to have all the standing rigging replaced - this is a 10 yearly task, and by some strange case of serendipity, just after I'd arranged for this to be done, I found some old paperwork in the little pile that came with the boat that shows it was actually last done exactly 10 years ago...

It's now back so the last two weeks have been involved with rounding up the innocent for a little mast lifting exercise - which was successfully completed last weekend. It looks like the rigging needs to stretch a little (being new, and made of twisted wire it does) as it was a tight fit - but the boat looks "complete" again...

Tick that one off from the 10 year plan then - that was the "big" project for this winter - next winter there'll be something else to do...

There's also been sailing club membership to renew, a new mooring to check (it was renewed by the club this winter), voluntary duties to perform (I was making cheese and onion toasties and Ploughman's lunches for a couple of hours last weekend, and I'm breaking up the old gentlemen's conveniences this weekend in readiness for new one's being built!) and boat insurance to source...

All of which is guaranteed to make you start thinking about getting back on the water, the current target for which is the first week of April - just 7 weeks away!

...and that's quite enough for now...