Messages

Chris. How many turns were done by how many boats at mark X or are barging encounters going unpunished? Excellent pictures by the way, Chris and Jeremy.
 

Tom. If the existing paint and varnish are two-part polyurethane, touching up is easy. The wood must be bone dry; sand down round about the damaged area and build up the damaged area with as many touching up coats as you have time abd inclination for. If you intend to do a later full coating job, I think the important thing will be to seal any bare areas of wood to prevent any water ingress otherwise the minor damage will get worse and you will have a bigger job later. A perfectionist will (if it is two-part polyurethane) level up the damaged areas with several coats, sand down the last one with 600 grade wet or dry (or finer) and polish the result witn T-Cut to bring the shine back. If the paint and varnish are the old oil-based or even one-part polyurethane the best plan is probably to concentrate on sealing the damaged areas with whatever paint and varnish you are using pending the full treatment later. I followed this pattern for many years but others may have better ideas. I loved painting and varnishing but most people find it tedious. Good luck.

Four of the top six in the Points Cup this year were also in the top six last year. They say in Formula l racing that it is 80% the car, 20% the driver. I think it is the exactly the reverse in sailing. There are some outstanding skippers in our class and I reckon they would be close enough, if not in front, in any good boat.

Many thanks for this reassurance, Jane. All the hard knocks are reserved for the crew - my wife/crew doesn't know that yet but I have told her that carbon is much less dramatic than aluminium but at 5ft. 7ins. she might get it in the neck both literally and metaphorically! N3535. Nigel.

Many thanks for this useful tip which I have added to my eventual check list. The Paradigm is due next month and will be N3535, "Metric Electric". If it goes like you suggest and lives up to its name all will be well. Nigel.

Many thanks Dare and Phil. I expect all the usual fittings to be on the mast when I get it and I shall examine very closely how they are all attached. I gave away my Lazy Tongs riveter some years ago along with monel and aluminium rivets - perhaps just as well! I was at Burghfield recently looking at the newer boats but they were out on the water most of the time and my photographs are generally of hulls and hull fittings. I used a Hawk wind indicator for many years. I see only burgees now, much cheaper to replace and no doubt I shall find out in due course how they are being attached. Years ago the rules required you to lower your burgee if you were retiring which implies a halyard. I assume burgees today are in place on a clip (screwed?) to the mast top. Out on the water I gather the danger areas are gybing without tightening the lee shroud and bearing away onto a reach in a breeze with too much kicker. I can see I have a psychological and a technical hurdle to overcome but the prospect of such light weight in the spars is exciting, not to mention the huge reduction in hull weight. My previous N12 was ll49 (a Jack Holt 500 derivative), mahogany planking, nailed and ribbed, built just before the glued ply boats came along. I am now on the wrong side of elderly but very enthusiastic about the new Paradigm 2 and hoping that my fitness level is still up to it. Nigel.

After a lifetime with wooden and aluminium masts, I have carbon spars coming along soon with a new Paradigm 2. Carbon masts seem to snap when aluminium would have bent (to be straightened later). There is some guidance on potential pitfalls with carbon in the website but reports rarely give the reason for breakages. All advice to a newcomer to carbon spars will be most welcome.