Pressure

No, not work or family, but barometric pressure is what has been hampering repairs (well that and a large ingress of water in the kitchen!).

However after racing Petes FD last weekend, I got the incentive to finish the boat repairs no matter the weather (yes the FD is a pretty boat but so boring after sailing an IC).

Geoff posted the replacement rudder blade with the new stainless steel and Carbon shaft and I dropped it into my rudder stock this morning. I then bit the bullet and cut the stock up to change it from a swing up arrangement to a conventional (in IC terms) drop in rudder. While the araldite is drying on that mod I faired the bow repair and put in a second filler coat. Once this is dry I will lay up a layer of carbon around the bow then fill and fair (ditto with the stern). Unfortunately this work, and timelines means I will miss the Zhik regatta, but will be on the water at ASC with the boat on opening day.

Given the inauspicious start the flatpack has had, and the start of a new season, I am thinking of painting her a different colour and giving her a different name.

AUS31 needs a nose job

I must have accidentally laminated a black cat into AUS31 as I seem to be having some bad luck:

I broke the rudder right on the start of race one on Saturday (no kidding, it was on the start gun), even worse is that I was in a great position so I ploughed at near full speed into a fireball underneath me. His boat is holed, my boats bow is open and I have no rudder.

So tonight I'll give it a really good clean and work out how we do the rhinoplasty on the bow, meantime the rudder goes back to the workshop to have a stainless steel pin put through it (Insurance will probably have to handle the damage to the Fireball....)

Back to the shed.....