Sail Noumea Seminar - RAYC

[Grinna 2]

On Thursday night I rocked along to one of the Sail Noumea offshore education seminars run at RAYC. The topic of this seminar was rigging and sail repair and the speakers were Richard (Bart) Bearda and Rodney Keenan.

 

Rodney started off the seminar by talking about storm sails, reefing and a few tips and tricks. Areas of the mainsail likely to get damaged during a reefing and while the sail is reefed, methods to help hoisting trysails and stormjibs, sizing your storm sails correctly, etc. Bart then started a good discussion about rigging and what's involved in keeping your mast upright. Maintenance issues, common breakage points, signs to look out for with various types of rigging, how to re-run a halyard, etc.

 

There was then a lively discussion about fallen rigs and cutting away a broken mast and rigging with practical demonstrations of the various methods for rod and wire rigging. Rodney gave a demonstration on how to quickly and effectively repair sails, including spinnakers, dacron and laminate materials and people were invited to have a go at cutting rigging and fixing sails.

 

A bloody brilliant evening and really, really informative. Not only did I learn heaps, but Bart gave away 2x Ronstan sailing watches and 6 hours of his time on board your boat going over the rigging. I was lucky enough to win one of the watches, but I think I'll be calling Bart and getting him down to the boat to go over our rigging with us explaining things and giving advice.

 

Thank you so much Rodney and Bart, I learnt heaps and really appreciate your generosity in terms of time, expertise and of course, for the watch.

[Jon 360]

What he said

 

Well done and well worth the trip up

 

Just had me wondering why the place wasn't packed ?

[smithy09 50]

I bloody forgot about it. What a twat!! Sounds like it was excellent!!