Reflecting on the season as a whole, it has been a contrasting tale. While the racing was frustrating and, at times, exasperating, the cruising was delightful in generally warm weather.
Turning to the former, the main source of frustration was the lack of structural integrity of the mainsail, one of Ullman's finest, which spent more time in the loft being repaired than it did on the boat. On the start line of the first ISORA, we noticed a foot-long tear and retired. During the Douglas to Dun Laoghaire race, we conducted further repairs to a different tear, at sea. At the end of the IRC Nationals in Pwllheli, it ripped from luff to leach (I groaned) and then a week later, after a further visit to a sailmakers, it ripped again, but in a different place (this time I laughed out loud). It has been a difficult relationship. First the sail was delivered in 2012 with the wrong track fittings - so it didn't. Then, after a couple of weeks on the boat, the leach started to delaminate, necessitating a return to the manufacturer. The 2013 season was relatively trouble free and the sail worked well, however, there were already worrying signs of wear and tear. In fact, rather more tear than the wear might warrant. The rest as they say is history.
After a long hard look in the mirror this season, we have concluded:
We need to have a full (dedicated) crew to be successful round the cans (we only had 5 onboard for the Nationals and could not always fly the kite). Additional weight on the windward rail would also be helpful during the offshore races.
The boat is faster with the weight (60m of chain and 25 kg anchor) taken out of the bow.
This makes mixing cruising and racing increasingly difficult.
We need new sails and they will not be coming from Ullman
