Queenie SJB had an outing at Thames SC last Saturday, possibly the most Cherub unsuitable venue in the Country. featuring James Curtis, our best youn feva helm as transom (lack of) ballast, we started carefully out of the way of gunwhale rubbing on the start line and headed up the first beat, long and tedious against the current and dozens of tacks. So we got to the eindward mark, ready to hoist the kite and overtake everything when *crunch*. the mast falls down... And the mast spanner et al goes through the foredeck the other side to the one I bashed in the garage two weeks ago...
On investigation the Talurit eye splice on the shroud had failed - the end had just pulled through the swage. There's some evidence that the (now closed) chandlery had left the piece of sticky tape they used to keep the ends of the wire closed up *inside* the swage, which -presumably supplied lack of grip. The only mystery is why it didn't fall down years ago. So that was a short event.
We did manage to blag a go on a Thames A Rater in the afternoon... Very interesting... Two ratchet blocks on the jib sheet and no cleats! I thought, I wonder why it needs that. I soon found out. A jib sized for 350 sq foot of rag on a 44 foot mast needs a lot of heave to get enough leech tension even with 2:1 jib sheets. These are three handers, but rather than sail them helm/sheethand/forehand the helm takes the mainsheet and the mid hand's main task is to manage the running back stays!
