MartinRF

One late autumn day many years ago I was approached by a guy in a dinghy while attending to my boat. He asked if I had been burgled. No, why? I asked. He told me someone had broken into the cabin of his boat and stolen all his matches and his fire extinguisher. Nothing else. Nothing valuable. Who? Why? An arsonist suffering from indecision? /Martin

No need I think. It's not like I leave may sails up when I go home... And this is the first time I have observed this behavior. This is the 38th season with this boat and the 30th season on a mooring in this marina. Pretty unusual in other words. I had huge problems with bird droppings (seagulls) on decks in the beginning. Then I got a set of Jumpo 'bird trainers' after which that problem has been reduced to a manageable level. /Martin

Yesterday when back at my mooring before I lowered my main sail: No harm done as far as I could see. /Martin

https://www.reflectometrist.eu/doc/The_Plym_Method_OO.pdf /Martin

This must have been exciting: /Martin

Too big foils slows them down when speed is up so increasing lower wind limit will not help as the foil design will be changed and the risk of falling off foils will remain in marginal conditions. My 2 cents... /Martin

True. The best compromise in my experience is modern design not using 'breathing' fabrics. /Martin

Foul weather gear is much nicer now /Martin

On the opposite side of the planet there was a lot of GRP boat mass production in the 70's and 80's. The owners of those boats are getting old and there are very few buyers as those boats are deemed too small (mostly 6 to 9 m LOA) and primitive by today's standards. Hence, they are dirt cheap and many times very sound in hulls if not in engine and sails. Heavy, low-tech for sure but you can get a working sailing boat for less money than a new mainsail cost these days. Some elbow grease and some additional money may bring it from just working to being reasonably nice. If this is your cup of tea

Assembled and launched boat today. Long, sunny day. Relaxing after much needed shower now. Rigging some other day. Monday hopefully. /Martin

From Arcona's web on the 460 model: It follows, it seems, that not even the highest CE Category ask for watertight bulkheads. /Martin

Behind the scenes: https://spectrum.ieee.org/unicorn-startup /Martin

But also one of the most pleasing ways to go somewhere. Btw, it is not uncommon for me to out-pace sailboats motoring -- even to windward. /Martin

This is supposed to be a sailing forum and all you discuss is motors of various types... /Martin

Replace rather than repair. This may be of interest: https://www.reflectometrist.eu/doc/Blockfriction.pdf My 2 cents... /Martin