Making Ready 5

 

Across the chill river, dinghies dice. Dueling in the Wilsonian Sailing Club frostbite series.

The hardy fleet rig up ashore. Launching from trolleys with padded cradles, which protect the slippery smooth hulls from shingle scratches. Preserving their racing edge.

For craft which remain continually afloat, the task, of minimising hull drag, does not only depend on a fair hull. It also requires a defense against weed and algal growth . If speed sapping water resistance is to be kept in check.

Over the past twelve years, Stargazer's annual coatings of antifouling have built up. With some areas now beginning to flake. The resulting uneven surface causing turbulence and lending marine organisms a potential toe hold.

In order to restore it, to its sleek former self, the hull must be scraped back, to glassfibre. It is a shoulder aching task. Like eating the proverbial elephant (or Christmas feast), best tackled in bite sized chunks.

A run of cool clear winter days prove ideally suited to scraping stints.

Then comes the sanding. Required to fully remove all accumulations of antifouling and primer.

Beneath, Stargazer's hull proves to be as smooth as a racing dinghy's bottom. No filling or fairing will be required.

However four consecutive days (and nights) above ten degrees centigrade are needed, in order for three coats of International Gelshield epoxy primer to cure, before fresh antifouling can be applied . Unless we are lucky, with a mild spell, this is a job which will have to wait, for the first warming breaths of spring, to complete.